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ZOOLOGY 



GALLOWAY 



ZOOLOGY 

A TEXT-BOOK FOR 
UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES 
AND NORMAL SCHOOLS 



BY 

THOMAS WALTON GALLOWAY, Ph. D., Litt. D. 

FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY, BELOIT COLLEGE, BELOIT, WISCONSIN; AND OF BIOLOGY IN THE 

JAMES MILLIKIN UNIVERSITY, DECATUR, ILLINOIS: ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR EDUCATIONAL 

ACTIVITIES, AMERICAN SOCIAL HYGIENE ASSOCIATION, NEW YORK 

CO-REVISER 

PAUL S. WELCH, Ph. D. 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ZOOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 



FOURTH EDITION, REVISED 
WITH 255 ILLUSTRATIONS 



PHILADELPHIA 
BLAKISTON'S SON & CO. 

1012 WALNUT STREET 



41 



Copyright, 1922, by P. Blakiston's Son & Co. 



^ 



>CI.A690138 



PRI NTED IN U.S. A. 
IY THE MAPLE PRESS YORK PA 



NOV 11*22 



PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION 



The present revision is made in the interest of accuracy of 
details and to record and interpret such progress in the Science- 
as bears most directly upon the instruction of beginners. In 
attempting these ends the author is greatly indebted to the 
painstaking work of the co-reviser, Professor Paul S. Welch, 
who is entirely innocent of any responsibility for the general 
plan of the book, which is unchanged from former editions. 

T. W. Galloway. 

New York City. 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 



The last thirty years have been very productive of text- 
books of Zoology, both for secondary schools and for colleges. 
Many of these are admirable from the point of view of the science 
itself. It has become increasingly apparent, however, that the 
right text -book of Zoology, as of every other subject, is primarily 
a matter of psychology. The prime object of all teaching is so 
to use the subject as to produce the best possible result in the 
personality of the pupil. This means that the mental structure 
and functioning of the pupils are even more important than the 
subject matter in conditioning the presentation of any subject. 
Teachableness is the first prerequisite in any text-book in any 
subject whatsoever. During the last ten years the writers of 
our text -books have shown an increasing appreciation of this. 
Nevertheless it is still true that some of the best zoologies we 
have from the point of view of the science of Zoology are peda- 
gogically impracticable. 

It is the purpose of the present book, however much it may 
fall short of its aim, to subordinate certain zoological prepos- 
sessions to the mental requirements of freshmen. The method 
here adopted has been used successfully by the writer in a first 
course, for more than twenty years. It has secured good interest 
and fine spirit. The following are some of the principles that 
have guided him in the selection and arrangement of the mate- 
rial in the present volume: 

i. The work done in a first course is primarily for pupils 
who do not take a second course. This first course should be 
handled, therefore, as a life-training rather than as satisfying 
a college requirement. It should seek to accomplish these, 
among other, things: 

The production and conservation of a vital interest in 
animals ; an appreciation of the human values of animals ; 
the encouragement of the attitude of raising and solving 
problems concerning animals; some ability to use the 
library, the field, and the laboratory in individual pursuit 
of these interests; the ability to sustain interest in these 

vii 



Vlll PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 

problems through considerable periods ; a sense of the way 
in which organisms respond to the environing conditions; 
an elementary conception of development and of the evolu- 
tionary series of animals ; some experience in classification 
of organisms — theoretical and practical; a conception of 
the place of man in the biological series, along with the 
conviction that this does not invalidate, but rather 
heightens, the meaning of all the higher human qualities. 

2. The first thing to be sought therefore is a thorough-going 
appreciation on the part of the student of the attractiveness, 
the scope, and importance of animals and their activities. 

3. A first course should really be a foundation course, and 
as such should give the student a broad and catholic view of 
the whole subject. It should utilize all the main departments 
of Zoology, because each department contains matter which 
should be familiar to all persons of ordinary education. Further- 
more, the departments of morphology, physiology, ecology, dis- 
tribution, and classification furnish exercises which have dis- 
tinct, and yet complementary, pedagogical value. Any single 
phase of the subject, however important or interesting, gives 
a false and therefore an unscientific view of the wonderful science 
of Zoology, unless it is supplemented by the others. Therefore 
a book, if it is to serve the pedagogical needs of beginners, should 
contain fairly representative matter from all the main depart- 
ments of the science; and it should at the same time provide 
both for the descriptive work and for the practical work in the 
field and laboratory. 

4. Laboratory work and field work are essential, both to 
proper interest and to proper results, and should not be merely 
illustrative of text or lecture work, but as far as possible should 
be the foundation and point of departure of the lectures and 
the text. No instrumentality open to the teacher is better than 
the laboratory as a means of securing real interest and mental 
growth for the pupils. However, in order to attain this end 
it is essential that this work shall really be vitally done. It is 
not enough that a pupil be induced to observe and to record 
his observations. The pupil's mind should always be en- 
couraged to "follow through" to whatever response in the way 
of conclusion or explanation seems sound in the light of his 
knowledge at the time. It is much more important that these 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION IX 

inner reactions be allowed, be complete, and be the student's 
own, than that they be rigorously right. It is easy enough to 
add new facts in order both to teach the pupil that conclusions 
are liable to be wrong, and to force his conclusion closer to that 
moving equilibrium which we call truth. This process is much 
more easy than to re-galvanize the soul whose interest and 
ability to reach conclusions have been aborted by a continual 
denial of the right. Much of the failure in our laboratory work 
is due to this " taxation without representation" in respect to 
personality. 

5. On the other hand it is equally important that the work 
shall not be confined to the field and the laboratory. "There 
are many things in the infinite concourse of particulars which 
we cannot afford to verify by experiment." The chief end of 
laboratory work is gained for the elementary student when he 
comes to appreciate the method and spirit by which sound in- 
vestigation proceeds, has acquired enough technical skill to fol- 
low elementary investigation on his own behalf, and has learned 
how to appreciate, and if necessary to verify, the statements of 
others. It is as easy to waste time in the laboratory as in reading 
textbooks. 

6. The time in an elementary course should be about equally 
apportioned (1) to laboratory work (chiefly in physiology and 
in the larger problems of morphology rather than in minute 
dissection); (2) to field observation on physiology, life histories, 
and the simpler problems of distribution, classification, and 
life relations; (3) to the body of the descriptive text; and (4) to 
classes of questions demanding reference to classical zoological 
authorities. 

It is a great mistake not to impress upon the student the 
immense amount of work already done and to heighten his re- 
spect for the library as one of his sources of information and 
interest. 

7. The matter of greater native interest should underlie and 
sustain that of less. It should not, however, exclude or efface 
the latter. The most interesting is often the least important. 

8. Certain of the general facts and principles which the 
beginner cannot be expected to discover for himself should be 



X PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 

presented early, in order to give the student a skeleton — or 
dimensions, so to speak — in which he shall later insert the par- 
ticulars which he discovers. He must have this in order to 
unify his own results in the brief time at his disposal. The 
lack of this unifying result is the ground of the just complaint 
concerning much of the unorganized and unrelated laboratory 
instruction in the secondary schools and early college classes. 

0. While it is necessary to bring our materials from various 
departments of Zoology and is desirable that the student should 
be able to recognize whether a given problem is primarily one 
of structure or function or relation, the total result of an ele- 
mentary course of Zoology should be a sense of unity, of con- 
tinuity, and of interdependence. The final view of the student 
should be of life and organic progress, and not of a disjointed 
science, dissected in the house of its friends. 

10. The teacher should have some latitude in the choice of 
matter and emphasis, in order that both may be properly suited 
to his equipment and locality. It should be impossible for the 
teacher or the class to use a text-book in a slavish, or parasitic 
fashion. Therefore a text-book should contain and suggest 
much more than one teacher or one class can use in the time 
allowed. This not only gives the teacher a chance (and makes 
it necessary for him) to mould his own course, but causes the 
student to realize that he is a mere beginner when he has com- 
pleted his first course. 

In attempting to apply these principles to the present book 
the author has made use of the following devices : 

1. The book is divided into three portions: — (1) a general 
part dealing largely with broad biological problems and princi- 
ples, which constitute the foundations of the science and are 
felt to be for the most part, beyond even the verification of the 
elementary student (Chapters I-VIII) ; (2) a special part (Chap- 
ters IX-XXV), in which the various principal phyla of animals 
are taken up in succession, beginning with the lowest. The 
purpose has been to make this part particularly illustrative of 
the principles laid down in the general portion; and (3) a group 
of synthetic chapters (XXVI-XXIX) to induce the student to 
gather up certain of the more important details of his course by 
a new reorganization of the materials. 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION XI 

2. Each chapter of the general part contains the following 
elements: — (i) the general statement of principles or facts; 
(2) interspersed with this are such practical exercises for labo- 
ratory, field, or library, as have been found practicable for 
elementary classes. These are intended to compensate for the 
enforced brevity and abstractness of definitions and description, 
by causing the student to find concrete illustration of the princi- 
ples; (3) an analytic summary of the most important general 
truths of the chapter in outline, at the close of the chapter; 
and finally (4), a list of supplementary topics for individual 
laboratory or library investigation and report. These topics 
supplement and illustrate the text, and enrich the review by 
introducing a new viewpoint and new matter. It is not intended 
that all of these topics shall be demanded of the whole class. 
The writer has got best results in interest and knowledge by 
allowing each member of the class to select some topic in which 
he is interested and to make a brief report of his investigation 
before the whole group. 

3. In the chapters of the special part each phylum is intro- 
duced by field and laboratory work on some representatives 
taken as types. This is purposely made brief and suggestive 
in order that the teacher and class may build up their own . 
detailed program. This is followed, corrected, and enlarged 
by a brief discussion of the typical condition of the organs and 
functions in the group as a whole. This serves to unify the 
isolated and local observations of the student. Next follows 
a brief statement of the most important facts of classification, 
together with ecological and economic suggestions. Finally, 
each chapter concludes with a list of supplementary questions 
calling for field, laboratory, and library work in review, and as 
a brief view of new material. 

4. The figures are carefully selected, — the majority of them 
being specially made for this book. With each figure of special 
moment is a brief list of queries designed to assist the student 
in the study of the figure. It is a common complaint among 
teachers that it is difficult to get students to appreciate and to 
use illustrations intelligently, and to relate them to the text. 
A sane emphasis on these questions will solve this problem. 



XU PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 

5. The concluding chapter consists of practical questions 
and special exercises which necessitate a review by the student 
of all that is essential in the book, from a new point of view. 
It is intended to do for the whole book what the suggestive 
topics at the end of each chapter may do for the chapters. 

6. The headings of paragraphs are printed in black-faced 
type, in order to emphasize the analysis of subject matter. 
Technical terms are in italics the first time they appear. The 
author does not agree that all technical language should be 
omitted from even an elementary course. 

The author extends most cordial thanks to the many pub- 
lishers and authors whose courtesy enables him to reproduce 
classic illustrations from their copyrighted works. Recognition 
is given to the sources in immediate connection with the figures. 
The thanks of the author are also due to many fellow teachers 
for suggestions and criticisms during the progress of the work, 
and since the appearance of the earlier editions. 

T. W. Galloway. 

James Millikin University. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

Page 
Introduction ' I 

CHAPTER II 
Protoplasm: Its Morphology and Physiology 8 

CHAPTER III 
The Animal Cell: Its Morphology and Physiology 19 

CHAPTER IV 
From the Simple Cell to the Complex Animal 29 

CHAPTER V 
Cellular Differentiation. — Tissues 48 

CHAPTER VI 
The General Animal Functions and Their Appropriate Organs . . 66 

CHAPTER VII 
Promorphology 92 

CHAPTER VIII 
Differentiation of Individuals and Adaptation 100 

CHAPTER IX 
A General Review of the Animal Kingdom T44 

CHAPTER X 
Phylum — Protozoa 150 

CHAPTER XI 

Phylum — Porifera (Sponges) 165 

xiii 



XIV CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XII 

Page 
Phylum — Ccelenterata (Hydroids, Corals, Jelly-fishes, Etc.) 174 

CHAPTER XIII 

Unsegmented Worms at least four Phyla, including Flat-worms, Thread- 
worms, Rotifers, Polyzoa, Etc.) 191 

CHAPTER XIV 

Phylum — Echinodermata (Starfish, Sea-urchins, Sand-dollars, Sea -lilies) . . 208 

CHAPTER XV 
Phylum — Annelida (Segmented Worms) 223 

CHAPTER XVI 
Phylum — Mollusca 240 

CHAPTER XVII 
Phylum — Arthropoda 266 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Phylum — Chordata 312 

CHAPTER XIX 

Chordata (Cont.): Sub-phylum Vertebrata (Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, 

Birds, and Mammals) 316 

CHAPTER XX 

Class — Pisces (Fishes) 359 

CHAPTER XXI 

Class — Amphibia (Frogs, Toads, Salamanders) 376 

CHAPTER XXII 
Class — Reptilia (Lizards, Crocodiles, Tortoises, Snakes) . 385 

CHAPTER XXIII 
Class — Aves (Birds) 399 

CHAPTER XXIV 
Class — Mammalia (Mammals) 43 8 



CONTENTS XV 

CHAPTER XXV 

Page 

Class — Mammalia (Cont.): Man ; 466 

CHAPTER XXVI 
The Doctrine of Evolution and Related Ideas 482 

CHAPTER XXVII 
Economic Zoology 508 

CHAPTER XXVIII 
Development of Zoology 518 

CHAPTER XXIX 
Exercises in Comparative Physiology, Morphology, and Ecology ... 530 

APPENDIX 

Laboratory Suggestions 533 

Index 545 



A TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 

i. Nature presents to man, as he looks upon it, a great and 
interesting variety of material objects. Each member of the 
race gathers in his lifetime, by means of experience and infer- 
ence, a certain limited knowledge of these objects and of the 
changes which they undergo. The knowledge, thus collected 
and systematized in the course of the history of the human 
race, constitutes the so-called Natural Sciences. Every one 
of us, whether he deliberately chooses or not, must be in some 
degree a natural scientist. The beauty and interest of the 
work has attracted and charmed thousands of people of all 
conditions, in all parts of the world. 

We commonly speak of material objects as either living or 
non-living — as organic and inorganic. The study of living 
things in all their relations we call Biology. Physics and Chem- 
istry are often considered as dealing exclusively with inor- 
ganic matter, and are therefore placed in contrast with Biology. 
Their principles apply, however, in the realm of living things 
just as truly as in the non-living, and one must not imagine 
because of this antithesis that the phenomena of life can be 
explained apart from chemical and physical laws. The term 
Biology was first introduced about the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century, and is intended to express the fact that plants 
and animals are similar in their most essential structure and 
activities. The term Natural History is sometimes used 
synonymous with Biology. 

2 . Zoology. — Owing to the fundamental likeness of all 
living matter, there is great theoretical difficulty in distinguish- 
ing between the plant and animal kingdoms. The practical 



2 ZOOLOGY 

difficulty however is confined to the very lowest and simplest 
forms of life. The plants and animals which come under the 
common observation of the student are readily distinguished. 
It is only the deeper study which reveals the underlying simi- 
larity of all living objects. The branch of Biology which 
treats of plants is called Botany; that which deals with animals, 
Zoology. 

3. The Value of the Study of Zoology. — The student, on 
taking up a new subject has a perfect right to ask whether that 
subject is worth while. A subject may have a great deal of 
value in practical ways and not mean much in education; or 
it may have high value in educating human beings and have 
very little of practical worth. Zoology is strong in both par- 
ticulars. Animals constitute one of the most interesting and 
important features in the surroundings of man. They arouse 
our interest, they appeal to our sense of beauty, they furnish 
us with food and clothing, they attack our crops, they produce 
diseases in us and in those animals we most use. In the second 
place, Zoology adds to our knowledge of the structure and 
activities of man himself since we are enabled through it to 
study ourselves in proper relation to the other animals. We 
may gain much light on the means of preserving human health 
and making right adjustments by the study of animals. Finally, 
the very method by which we study zoology is of the greatest 
value in our mental growth. The scientific method demands 
that we observe at first hand as many facts as possible; that we 
compare and contrast these facts with one another and with 
those which other people have observed; that we discriminate 
between important and unimportant facts ; that we learn to 
draw right conclusions from our facts; and that we always hold 
our minds open for new facts even after we have reached our 
conclusions. It is worth while to get these ideals and form 
these habits. 

To the investigator, the ultimate object of zoological study 
is to find the real nature of animal life as it exists, the mode of 
its development, and the causes which have brought it to its 
present exquisite variety and adjustment. These larger and 



INTRODUCTION 3 

more general questions constitute what may be called theo- 
retical Zoology, or the principles of Zoology. 

4. Practical Exercises. — The student may select ten or more kinds of animals 
with which he is partially acquainted, and, from his observation and experience, 
enumerate the points at which they touch human welfare. Are they, in each 
instance, to be classed as helpful ? as harmful ? or merely as apparently indifferent ? 
Is their influence upon man's interest direct or indirect? 

What animals have, in the past, most appealed to your interest? Select that 
particular quality in which you have been most interested (structure, beauty, 
powers, instincts, habits) and show how the attempt to study or explain any one 
takes you at once into all the others. 

5. Divisions of the Science. — The facts and principles 
which have been, and are yet to be, discovered concerning 
animals are so numerous and various in their bearings, and in- 
vestigators approach the subject from such different points of 
view that it is necessary, in order to express these results, to 
divide zoology into several branches or departments. It must 
be held in mind, however, that these divisions are more or less 
artificial, and that the facts of each department are to be con- 
sidered in connection with those of all the others, if they are 
really to be understood. With all its departments, animal life 
is to be thought of as a whole. Structures exist for the per- 
formance of function, and the activities are valuable as they 
adjust the animal to its whole life-relation. 

6. Morphology is the branch of the science which deals 
with form or structure in its broadest sense, whether internal 
or external, partial or total. In its most general meaning it em- 
braces the study of animals from the standpoint of symmetry, 
— that is, the form of the organism with reference to certain 
planes passing through the body. For example, the human 
body may be so divided by a single plane that two essentially 
similar parts result, — the right and the left. Again similar 
parts may succeed each other in a linear series, as in the seg- 
ments of the earth-worm; or they may radiate from a central 
point, as in the arms of the star-fish. This is the most funda- 
mental kind of morphology. It relates the organism to position 
and motion in space. It is called Promorphology, and is related 
to Zoology somewhat as the study of crystals is to Mineralogy. 

Anatomy is that department of morphology which treats 



4 ZOOLOGY 

of the structure of parts of the individual, — as the organs and 
systems of organs, the tissues, the cells. This is known as 
gross anatomy if the study pertains to the larger units, — as 
organs; it is called Histology, if the constituent elements of 
these organs, as tissues and cells, are to be considered. 

Thus far we have thought of structure as stationary or per- 
manent. As a matter of fact we know that each organism 
begins life in a very modest way, as a single "cell," and grows 
more complex by fairly well-defined stages until the adult con- 
dition is reached. This is development." The science of 
Embryology is the record of this history of the successive stages 
which the individual animal assumes in becoming adult, or 
at least until its organs are essentially formed. 

7. In Physiology are considered the facts and laws relating 
to the activities or functions of the organism and of its separate 
parts. It includes the tracing back of the adult activities to 
their lowest form, as found in the simplest animals or the 
youngest stages of the higher animals. It includes the powers 
of the single cell; the chemical and physical processes which 
seem to underlie all the functional activities; the division and 
more perfect performance of the primitive functions as the 
various organs ^ arise and come to do their special work. 
Finally it includes the relation of the animal as a whole to other 
animals of the same or of different species, to plants, and to 
the inanimate surroundings. The term Ecology is applied to 
this branch of physiology which treats of the relation of the 
organism to the complex and wonderful conditions in which 
it finds itself. Of recent years much emphasis is being given 
to this branch of zoology. 

8. Animals may be studied as to their distribution or occur- 
rence in the world. For example, we find lions in Africa and 
Asia only, and the African and Asiatic lions are of different 
varieties; the giraffe is found only in Africa; man is found 
over the most of the habitable globe, but before the era of easy 
communication between distant countries the men of different 
regions were conspicuously different. Again we can easily see 
that the animals which live in the various bodies of water are 



INTRODUCTION 5 

very different from those living on the land; those in the frigid 
zones are different from those in the temperate and torrid. 
All such topics are treated under the head of Zoogeography, or 
geographical distribution. This is distribution in space. 

The hard parts of animals are found as fossils in many of 
the surface rocks of the earth. The various systems of rock- 
strata are characterized by more or less different fossil remains, 
indicating a variation in the animal life during the successive 
periods of the earth's history. This distribution of animals 
in time is the subject-matter of Palceo zoology. The facts 
of palseozoology and the conclusions resting thereon are 
among the most important in the whole realm of Zoology, 
inasmuch as they supplement the facts gained from the study 
of embryology and morphology of living species, thus enabling 
the investigator to trace the history of the various races of 
animals into the remote past. In this way we also learn much 
of the history of the earth itself. 

9. Practical Exercises. — The student may submit a written report on the dis- 
tribution of the animals in his immediate neighborhood, based on his own observa- 
tions. The report need not be exhaustive in order to convince the student of the 
effect of the environment, which includes everything in the surroundings, on the 
distribution of animals. Some classification should be made of the varieties of 
territory included;— as river, pond, lowland, woodland, prairie, mountain, and the 
like. Determine, by reference to the authorities available, the geographical 
distribution of the following: the elephant, the camel, the kangaroo, the horse, 
the white bear, the seal, the salmon, the crocodile, the reef-forming coral, the 
sponge of commerce. Select and find the distribution of five other species having 
a personal interest to you. 

10. Classification. — In studying animals and plants one is 
soon impressed with the fact that among the thousands of 
individuals, even of the same general kind, there are no two 
exactly alike; and yet among them all, with their manifest dif- 
ferences, there are numerous points of similarity. These two 
facts make it possible to group those most alike into more or 
less coherent classes, separating them at the same time from 
other classes. The forming, naming, and defining of these 
groups and subgroups we call Taxonomy or Classification. 
Manifestly, true classification must depend upon the facts de- 
rived from the completest possible study of the structure and 
relations of organisms, and can only be perfect when we know 



6 ZOOLOGY 

all that is to be known about them. In addition to displaying 
our present knowledge of the relationship of animals, classifi- 
cation serves a most important end in giving us more rapid 
power of using that knowledge in getting further knowledge 
that is needed. 

ii. Historical. — Zoology as a science can scarcely be said 
to be more than three hundred years old, although Aristotle, 
more than three hundred years before Christ, wrote much of 
value concerning animals. Later many facts of general anat- 
omy were discovered in connection with the study of medicine, 
and about 1600 the invention of the microscope opened up the 
field of micro-organisms and of histology. Toward the end of 
the seventeenth century an effort was made to establish a scien- 
tific classification of animals. Since that time very much of 
the attention of students of zoology has been turned in this 
direction. During the last century however there has been a 
constantly increasing interest in the study of embryology, of 
histology, and in the general theoretical questions, the answers 
to which depend on the bringing together of the results of 
studies in all departments. Such are the problems of race de- 
velopment or evolution, of heredity, of man's place in nature, 
and the like. The most notable development of the subject in 
recent years has been in connection with the study of the finer 
structure of the cell, in more exact methods of studying physi- 
ology, in extending its scope to take in the lower organisms as 
well as the higher and the single cell as well as the organs, and 
in inheritance. It is important to add that all this work is now 
being done in a comparative way. The necessity of comparing 
the histology, the embryology, and the physiology of one animal 
with that of another arises from the belief in the unity of animal 
life, and that all animals are really akin. If animals of different 
kinds are really related, their likenesses and differences take on 
a new meaning to the student, and classification comes to ex- 
press the degree of kinship, as well as to serve the convenience 
of the investigator. 

12. Summary. 

I. Natural Science embraces: 



INTRODUCTION 7 

A. The sciences of inanimate things — 

Astronomy, 
Geography, 

Meteorology, Mineralogy, Lithology, etc. 

B. The sciences of animate things — 

Botany, 

Zoology. 
(Physics and Chemistry are fundamental to both 
groups of sciences; Geology embraces portions of 
the subject-matter of both groups.) 

II. Subdivisions of Zoology. 

A. Morphology: 

i. Promorphology, which treats of general form;' 

2. Anatomy; = the structure of parts; 

Gross = structure of organs and systems of 
organs ; 

Microscopic = (Histology, Cytology); struc- 
ture of tissues and cells; 

3. History of Development (structural stages): 

Individual = (Embryology, Ontogeny); 
Racial = (Phylogeny). 

B. Physiology: 

1 . Physiology proper ; = the functional relation of 
part to part and to the whole; 

2. Ecology; = relations of the individual to its 
surroundings, whole or in part. 

C. Distribution: 

1 . In space = (Zoogeography) ; 

2. In time = (Palaeozoology, as revealed by fossils). 

D. Classification, or the grouping of animals accord- 
ing to their likeness or kinship. 

E. Economic zoology considers all the points at which 
animals touch human welfare. 

[All of these subjects may be considered historically and comparatively.] 



CHAPTER II 

PROTOPLASM: ITS MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY 

13. Life.— Life may be thought of in two somewhat distinct 
ways. It may be considered, first, merely as an expression 
for all the various activities of the organism, — the sum of 
all the phenomena of its existence; or, second, as a force or 
form of energy from which the special modes of activity, as 
feeding, growth, motion, and thinking, arise. The latter is 
the more common use of the term, and yet the former is the 
only use of it which can be completely justified. Much of the 
activity of living things may be explained by reference to 
the ordinary physical and chemical laws. What we mean by 
this is that all the so-called vital activities depend on such 
physical facts as cohesion and adhesion, on the laws of fluids 
and of solution of solids in fluids; and on such chemical facts 
as the building up and tearing down of chemical compounds 
composed of just the same elements that we find about us 
everywhere in the world. There are a great many biologists 
who think that there is nothing more in life than these physical 
and chemical processes and effects, and that we should be able 
to explain life and its activities if we knew all about the physics 
and chemistry of living matter. It is sure, however, that there 
are many vital phenomena which are not now to be explained 
by what we now know of chemistry. Possibly this will always 
be so. 

14. Living and Non-living Objects.— Any one of us could, 
almost at a glance, tell whether an object is, or has been, alive; 
and yet it is not easy to describe just what it is that convinces 
us. There are two classes of differences between living things 
and things that have never been associated with life : differences 
(1) in make-up or organization, and (2) in powers. 



PROTOPLASM 9 

Organization includes form, size, organs or parts, as well as 
minute structure and chemical composition. While no two 
organisms are of exactly the same form, there are certain fea- 
tures that are very common. Living bodies are usually bounded 
by curved surfaces. They tend to be elongated in one axis 
more than in others ; they tend to repeat certain of their parts ; 
and they incline to be symmetrical. They are limited in size, — 
although some are very small and some are very large. They 
are differentiated, — that is, they have organs, different kinds of 
structures at different parts of the body. As we shall see later 
they are made up of a substance called protoplasm, which is 
arranged in one or more cells. 

Among the powers and activities of a living object may be 
mentioned (i) the power of changing food into its own substance, 
and thus of growth and repair; (2) the power of using this 
growth to separate off a portion and thus make a new individual 
like itself (reproduction); (3) the power to use some of the 
material of growth to develop energy of motion, heat, light, 
electricity, or thought, as the case may be; and (4) the ability 
by means of sensitiveness and the use of these various powers 
to. adjust itself to very considerable changes in the environment. 
Every organism has all these qualities in some measure. No 
inorganic object has them. 

15. The Relation of Protoplasm to Life. — Whatever life 
may be, in the last analysis, we never observe its manifestations 
except in connection with a substance called protoplasm, which 
is found both in plants and animals. Protoplasm does not con- 
tain any chemical elements which are not found in other than 
living materials. Notwithstanding this fact, protoplasm is 
different from any other known substance. It is more com- 
plex and more highly organized, as to its machinery, than any 
other chemical or physical compound whatsoever. Protoplasm 
has the power of growing by taking into itself and changing 
non-living substances; but, so far as we know, it is never pro- 
duced except as the result of the growth and division of 
antecedent protoplasm. The protoplasmic or living material 
in an organism is normally composed of a number of unit- 



IO ZOOLOGY 

masses called cells' (see Chapter III). These unit-masses of 
protoplasm are in some degree independent of one another, 
because normally each tends to form a wall about itself; and 
yet it is highly probable that the whole protoplasm of an ani- 
mal is physically continuous by means of delicate connections 
between the units. The life of the cells is not quite the same 
thing as the life of the organism to which they belong, for 
in animals composed of more than one cell a cell may die with- 
out involving the death of the animal. The protoplasm of the 
cell may also retain life for a time after separation from the 
living animal or after the animal as a whole has ceased to live. 
This is shown by the fact that cells may be taken from the body 
of young organisms and, if kept nourished under conditions similar 
those to of the body from which they are taken, will not merely 
live but will continue to grow and divide almost indefinitely. 
This has been shown to be true of several classes of cells. 

1 6. Protoplasm. — While we describe protoplasm as the 
"physical basis of life" (Huxley), we no longer think of it as a 
constant or definite material with an exact composition. It 
is rather a complex mixture of substances, some of which are 
themselves very complex compounds. These substances in 
the mixture are continually bringing about changes in one 
another. It is inevitable that such a mixture of changeable 
substances should itself be most unstable and variable. It is 
agreed that there is much in common in all protoplasm,— even 
in protoplasm as far apart as that of plants and animals; and 
yet it is also true that the protoplasms of different animals and 
of different parts of the same animal are definitely different. 
This difference is shown by the difference in the work they can 
perform, — as in muscles and nerve cells. Indeed different 
species of animals and their organs and cells are different just 
because the protoplasms which form them are different. 

Perhaps this is the most wonderful thing in life: that a sub- 
stance, so complex and so variable that it is not exactly the 
same any two moments in succession, should still be so constant 
that a small amount of it split off generation after generation 
should transmit all the essential qualities of the species to which 
it belongs, — whether a Paramecium or an oak or a man. 



PROTOPLASM 1 1 

17. Chemical Composition of Protoplasm. — It is impossible to make a satis- 
factory chemical analysis of living protoplasm, as it loses its characteristic powers 
and probably undergoes important chemical and physical changes in the act of 
analysis. The dead material thus obtained is no longer the substance with which 
we started, either as to its power or its structure. The experiment shows, how- 
ever, that the substance is both chemically and physically unstable. By an 
analysis of the dead protoplasm, we find present several complex organic com- 
pounds, known as proteins, carbohydrates (starches and sugars), fats, enzymes, pig- 
ments, etc. In addition to these are simpler inorganic compounds, as water and 
various salts. Doubtless some of these materials are food-substances on their 
way to form protoplasm, and others are the waste-products of protoplasmic dis- 
ruption, ready to be cast out of the cell. The proteins are the most complex of 
all these substances and it is believed that protoplasm finds its real basis in them. 

The proteins, which are about 40% of the dry protoplasm, are various in 
composition and properties, but agree in that their molecules contain carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulphur, in proportion roughly as follows: 
C 53%, O 22%, N 17%, H 7%, S 1%. Carbon is thus the most abundant single 
constituent element. The white of egg, the fibrin of the blood, and casein in 
milk are examples of protein. 

Carbohydrates (about 12% of the dry protoplasm) consist of C, H, and O. 
The latter elements are always present in the ratio in which they are represented 
in water (H 2 0), e.g. C 6 Hio0 5 . The starches, sugars, and cellulose (such as is 
found in cotton fibres) are illustrations. 

Theiats contain the same elements as starch, but the percentage of oxygen 
in terms of the hydrogen is much smaller than in the starches. These fats com- 
prise some 12% of the dry protoplasm. 

The en2ymes are complex organic substances which have the power of produc- 
ing important chemical changes in other substances without being themselves 
consumed. They play an important, but not thoroughly understood, r61e in the 
activities of the organisms, both within and outside the cells which produce them. 
The active principle of the digestive juices, as ptyalin and pepsin, are examples of 
ferments which have been extruded from the cells. 

Water (H 2 0) is very important in both the chemical and physical structure of 
protoplasm. It is very variable in amount, and the degree of activity of the 
protoplasm is roughly proportional to the amount of water present. Something 
like 5-7% of the dry weight of protoplasm is made up of inorganic salts,— eom- 
pounds of chlorine, potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, etc., found 
largely in solution in the water. 

Most of these substances cannot be considered as "living." The water and 
inorganic salts and starch cannot be. The starches and fats and urea are organic 
but not living. If any particular substances are alive it would seem to be the 
proteins. It may be, however, that life is the result of the intimate relations and 
interactions of all these various non-living substances rather than a property of 
any one of them. 

18. The Physical Structure of Protoplasm. — This varies 
much from time to time. On account of differences in the 
amount of water present, the consistency of protoplasm may 
vary from the quite fluid condition found in actively growing 



12 ZOOLOGY 

parts, to the very much more solid condition apparent in dry 
seeds and in the resting or encysted stage of some animals. 
In these latter instances the protoplasm eliminates a large per 
cent, of its water, forms a thick wall, and thereby becomes 
enabled to resist drouth and heat and cold as it could not possibly 
do otherwise. Under ordinary circumstances protoplasm ap- 
pears as a semi-fluid or gelatinous material. 

Concerning the architecture of protoplasm there is much 
diversity of opinion. It seems probable that this, like the 
chemical composition, is subject to considerable variation. It 
is certainly very complicated and represents several physically 
distinct substances, mingled in a very effectual and wonderful 
way. Protoplasm is a colloid. This means that the supporting 
fluid carries in suspension various large molecules or molecular 
groups. It is not therefore a true solution, and does not pass 
readily by osmosis as solutions do. In some cases at least it takes 
take on the appearance of a foam structure such as is obtained 
in an emulsion of oil in water, or of air and water in a soapy 
lather. Whatever its form may be, it seems that there must 
be a close relation between the architecture and the great activity 
which protoplasm shows. It is physically as well as chemically 
unstable. 

19. Physiology of Protoplasm. — The mass of protoplasm 
which we have called a cell, or unit, is able to perform practic- 
ally all the functions shown by the more complex organism. It 
has the power of feeding, of growth, of reproduction, of motion 
in response to stimuli, and of waste and repair. Even in the 
higher animals, made up of many of these units, the processes 
are performed, on last analysis, by the individual protoplasmic 
units of which the body is composed. 

20. Irritability. — Owing to its chemical and physical in- 
stability, living protoplasm is constantly changing. These 
changes may be the direct result of internal or external con- 
ditions to whose influence the protoplasm may respond by a 
manifestation of energy greater than that involved in ■ the 
stimulus. This quality is called irritability. It further seems 
that changes may originate within the protoplasm itself, 



PROTOPLASM 13 

though this is much more difficult to demonstrate and may 
merely represent our ignorance of the processes occurring in the 
protoplasm. This power is called automatism. These two are 
the most fundamental qualities belonging to protoplasm, and 
serve to make possible those which follow: viz., motion, assimi- 
lation, growth, etc. Protoplasm varies in the degree of irri- 
tability. In general it responds to stimuli most normally under 
those conditions which are most favorable to the ordinary vital 
processes. 

21. Stimuli. — All the disturbing forces or conditions, ex- 
ternal or internal, which tend to cause response in living pro- 
toplasm, are called stimuli. The principal stimuli are, — 
chemically active substances, moisture, contacts, heat, light, 
electricity, and gravity. Inasmuch as irritability lies at 
the foundation of the various protoplasmic activities men- 
tioned below, all the natural causes which modify irritability, 
also modify, through it, the vital processes, such as motion, 
growth, etc. 

Light affects protoplasm profoundly. The direction of motion in protoplasm 
is largely determined by light. Light may either attract or repel protoplasm. 
Excess of light retards growth. Heat strongly modifies the rate of all the vital 
processes. There is an optimum temperature at which the protoplasm best 
performs its work. An excessive increase or decrease of this temperature causes 
a cessation of activity, a condition of rigor, and death. The fatal maximum 
temperature for ordinary animal protoplasm may be said to be about 45 or 50 C; 
the minimum, o°, or below. Chemical agents may stimulate protoplasm in such a 
way as to attract or repel organisms. Paramecia, which are single-celled animals, 
may be seen to gather about an air-bubble, or at the margin of the cover-glass. 
They will retreat before an encroaching solution of certain salts. 

It is a most significant fact in this connection that protoplasm may become, so 
to speak, accustomed to a stimulus which has been long continued, so that it ceases 
to respond in the way it did when the stimulus was novel. Protoplasm may 
gradually be brought, for example, to endure and thrive at a temperature which 
would have produced death if suddenly applied. It is almost impossible to over- 
state the importance of this faculty in enabling organisms to survive changing 
conditions. Stimuli, then, may be said to be powerful in proportion to their 
suddenness and intensity. 

22. Assimilation. — The process of changing food substances 
into protoplasm is called assimilation. It can be effected 
only by protoplasm. Such foods may be relatively simple 
substances or may be the complex protoplasm of other 
organisms. The protoplasm of the green leaves of plants has 



14 



ZOOLOGY 



the power of utilizing the simple inorganic compounds, as 
oxygen, water, and carbon dioxid, in a larger measure than 
that of animals. Plants may build these up into foods, whereas 
animals must have the complex organised foods to start with. 

23. Growth and Reproduction. — The result of assimila- 
tion is the addition of new molecules of complex organic 

Fig. 1. 
animal substances 



REPRODUCTION 



REPRODUCTION 




ENERGY 
HEAT 
MOTION 
THOUGHT 



Fig. i. A diagram indicating the general cycle of events in the building up of inorganic sub- 
stances into living matter. Sunlight enables the chlorophyll of plants to build up water and carbon- 
dioxide (photosynthesis) into carbohydrates. Plants may use these together with nitrogenous com- 
pounds to form plant protoplasm and other proteins. Animals may by assimilation utilize these for 
growth, reproduction, and in doing work of various kinds. Work results in waste. Plants may 
again use these wastes. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the three main courses open to plant sub- 
stances? In what sense are animals dependent on plants? For what? How 
important is photosynthesis in life? What is the real source of the energy of 
organisms? In what sense is the term cycle appropriate here? 

matter among the molecules of the old. This produces growth. 
It is to be defined as increase in mass. If this continues in- 
definitely in excess of whatever may tend to destroy the pro- 
toplasm, the increase in size may lead to the division of the 
protoplasm. The parts may separate and lead an independent 
existence. Such is reproduction. In its simplest form it is 



PROTOPLASM 15 

merely growth beyond the limits of the individual. The cell 
cannot continue to grow indefinitely. Its size is limited by the 
necessity of physical support on the part of the soft protoplasm, 
and by the relation between the outer surface, through which 
the food must be taken, and the volume, which represents the 
mass, to be fed. As a cell grows its surface increases as the 
square of the diameter, whereas the volume increases as 
the cube of the diameter. It is apparent that the nourishing sur- 
face does not increase as rapidly as the mass to be nourished, 
and in consequence the time will come when the nourishment 
possible to be absorbed will just nourish the volume, and growth 
must cease. This condition is in some way related to the imme- 
diate causes of division. At any rate division furnishes a way 
out of the dilemma and allows a renewal of growth of the 
daughter units. 

Fig. 2. 




Fig. 2. Streaming of Protoplasm in the Amoeba. The forward motion of the granules takes 
place more rapidly in the centre of the pseudopodium (p). Those at the margin fall behind those 
in the centre as the pseudopodium advances. 

Questions on the figure. — Why may the amoeba readily change its form? Do 
its internal parts preserve a constant relation to each other? 

24. Contractility. — A body of living protoplasm seems 
always to possess the ability to change its form in greater or 
less degree. This results in motion of parts or of the whole, 
and is called contractility. Movement or contractility is closely 
related to irritability, and results from the action of stimuli, 
external and internal, upon the complex protoplasm. It is 
made possible by the assimilation of food substances. These, 
in being broken down, furnish the energy shown in motion. 
The nature of the motion resulting from contraction differs 
somewhat, depending upon whether the protoplasm is en- 



i6 



ZOOLOGY 



veloped by a cell- wall or is naked. If without a wall, it may- 
send out foot-like projections into which there passes a stream 
of granules, as in the Amoeba (see Fig. 2); if enclosed, the 
protoplasmic mass may rotate within the cell wall, or there 
may be narrow channels in which the currents move between 
banks of more stationary material. The latter motion is de- 
scribed as circulation. (Fig. 3.) 

• Fig. 3. 



p..__ 




Fig. 3. The circulation of protoplasm (p) in a cell of a stamen-hair of Tradescantia. In the 
channels the granules move back and forth to the" various parts of the cell. The remainder of the 
cell is filled with cell-sap (s) which in these cells is colored. 

Questions on the figure. — In what respects are the activities of the protoplasm 
necessarily limited in this cell as compared with the condition in Amoeba*? Why is 
circulation an appropriate term? 

25. Demonstrations. — It is very desirable that the student actually see proto- 
plasmic motion with a compound microscope of good magnification. The A mceba 
will serve to illustrate the naked streaming motion; Paramecium, rotation; the 
hairs from the stamens of Tradescantia beautifully illustrate circulation. (There 
is a cultivated species which may be kept blooming in greenhouses at all seasons 
of the year.) Ciliary motion may be shown in several of the large Infusoria, as 
Stentor, Paramecium, or Vorticella, or by: living cells on the gills of clams and 
mussels. 

26. Dissimilation. — Motion and the other responses which 
protoplasm makes to stimuli necessarily represent chemical or 



PROTOPLASM 17 

physical changes, or both, in the protoplasm. It is well known 
that complex chemical substances, such as are found in proto- 
plasm, can be made to yield energy when they are torn down 
into simpler ones by some element which has an affinity for 
some of the elements constituting the substance. The result 
of this action is, always, simpler and more stable compounds 
than the original, and therefore of less use in the further 
freeing of energy. This tearing-down process is the opposite 
of assimilation and is sometimes called dissimilation or katab- 
olism. Oxygen is one of the most important agents in nature 
for the freeing of energy by breaking down the complex chemical 
substances. It unites with the carbon and hydrogen particu- 
larly, and these unions are among the principal sources of 
energy which animals show. The process is called oxidation 
and is essentially the same thing that occurs when wood or coal 
is burned. The energy belonging to the wood by virtue of its 
chemical constitution is partly freed by the action of the oxygen 
in uniting with the carbon and hydrogen, reducing the wood to 
ashes, water, and carbon dioxid. In the stove the principal 
form of energy secured is heat; but in appropriate engines, 
locomotion and other forms of mechanical work, or light, or 
electrical energy may be secured by the oxidation. So in 
protoplasm, various types of energy may result from the tear- 
ing down of the complex substances. Among these are animal 
heat, motion, nervous energy and electrical energy. The living 
body with its protoplasm is really a mechanism, — an engine. 

27. Secretion and Excretion. — As a result of the constructive and destructive 
work already mentioned as characteristic of protoplasm certain substances, not 
themselves protoplasm, may be produced. If these products are of further use in 
the animal economy, they are usually described as secretions; if they represent the 
final reduction in the process of tearing down, they are called excretions. Such 
materials may be deposited either within the protoplasm or at its surface. In the 
latter case it may be deposited in a uniform sheet and produce a protective mem- 
brane (cell wall). The presence of such a covering to the protoplasm very mate- 
rially modifies all the elementary activities which have been described. 

28. Demonstrations. — It is easy to make microscopic demonstration of secre- 
tions and excretions: — as starch grains formed in the leaves of plants; fat in adi- 
pose tissue; cell-walls in plants; crystals in plant cells (see Botanies); intercellular 
substance in cartilage or bone. 

29. Supplementary Topics for Library Work. — Find and examine some of the 
classic definitions of life. Examine more completely the theories of protoplasmic 



1 8 ZOOLOGY 

architecture. What is meant by saying that protoplasm is colloidal in nature? 
What are the properties of colloids? In what ways would the presence of the 
cell- wall bring about modifications of the protoplasmic activities? Give an 
account of experiments showing the effect of some of the more important stimuli 
on protoplasm (as light, heat, electricity). What of the external conditions are 
so important as to merit the term "primary conditions of life"? Why may pro- 
toplasm be described as chemically unstable? Compare oxidation in the proto- 
plasm with oxidation in ordinary combustion. 

30. Summary. — 1. Scientists are not wholly agreed whether 
life is merely the action of the ordinary chemical and physical 
forces in connection with a peculiar substance, or represents 
these, guided by a type of energy of a higher order. 

2. Protoplasm, a chemical mixture of exceeding complexity 
and instability, is the " physical basis of life." Differences 
in various living things are probably due to differences in the 
chemical and physical structure of the protoplasm of which 
they are composed. 

3. Owing to the unstable character of the protoplasm it is 
readily acted upon and changed by external forces; and the 
various parts of the protoplasm act on each other in such a 
way as to produce a display of energy. The agents are called 
stimuli. Protoplasm responds to stimuli because of its irri- 
tability and contractility. These latter powers belong natively 
to protoplasm because of its physical and chemical composition. 

4. Protoplasmic matter and the materials which are to be 
destroyed in the production of energy are alike produced by 
the assimilation of food substances into new protoplasm. This 
is a most fundamental quality. 

5. Growth is increase of mass, following the formation of 
new substance by assimilation. The mere absorption of water 
also results in growth. Growth leads naturally to reproduction. 

6. Oxygen is one of the chief agents by which the unstable 
compounds in the protoplasm are made to release their energy. 
The breaking down of these compounds leaves unused mate- 
rials which must be excreted. Respiration, which is a term 
applied to the using of oxygen and the elimination of carbon 
dioxid, and excretion are thus seen to be protoplasmic func- 
tions immediately connected with its general activity. 



CHAPTER III 

THE ANIMAL CELL; ITS MORPHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY 

31. Introduction. — In studying the structure of organisms 
two methods are open to the student of to-day. He may 
begin with the whole adult individual and by dissection he may 
reach a knowledge of the constituent parts, — organs, tissues, 
cells. This, the analytic method, is the method of history by 
which we have learned the mass of facts which we have at pres- 
ent. On the other hand, it is possible to avail one's self of the 
results of such studies, to start with the unit of structure which 
is uniformly found, and, by a synthetic process, trace the build- 
ing up of an organism from its elementary parts. This is the 
process which the development of every individual illustrates. 
It has the special advantage of emphasizing the fundamental 
unity of origin of the organs, and the likenesses of organisms, 
and gives, as no dissection can, the true significance of differ- 
entiation and development. 

32. The Cell. — Having discussed in Chapter II the sub- 
stance in connection with which life manifests itself, it is 
necessary to recall the fact that the protoplasm of an organism, 
while connected in various ways, is separated by boundaries 
into unit-masses, each mass having the essential qualities of 
the whole. Each unit mass of protoplasm is called a cell. The 
cell is not to be considered as the ultimate unit of structure; 
it is itself, as we shall see, a group of bodies all of which are in 
turn highly complex. It is thus to be looked upon as an organ- 
ized structure. 

33. Cell Form. — Cells, unhampered or not specially stimu- 
lated as to the direction of their growth, tend to assume a spherical 
form. Agencies, both internal and external, as nutritive proc- 
esses, differences in tension, pressure, etc., may modify this in 
such a way that almost any form may be found: polygonal, 
flattened, elongated, filamentous, branched, etc. 

19 



20 



ZOOLOGY 



34. Size. — While ordinary tissue cells are minute, there is 
great variation in the size of cells. Many single-celled in- 
dividuals are visible to the naked eye, and egg-cells may be 
several centimetres in diameter; yet many tissue cells are less 
than .005 millimetre in diameter. Cells may be very much 

Fig. 4. 



nu.* 




cy... c 




Fig. 4. Diagram showing the principal parts of the cell and something of the protoplasmic 
architecture as it might appear '-while living, a, alveoli or spheres in the foam- work (see §18); c, 
centrosome; cy, cytoplasmic meshwork, containing granules; nu., nucleus; «, nucleolus; v, vacuole; 
w, cell wall. 

Fig. 5. Diagram showing principal parts of the cell as it appears when killed and stained. The 
protoplasm shows more of a meshwork {cy), the spaces representing the alveoli. /, formed sub- 
stances in alveoli. Other letters as in Fig. 4. 

Questions on figures 4 and 5. — If these cells are in reality 25 n in diameter, 
how much are they enlarged in the drawing? Qj. is .001 mm.). Identify the various 
structures referred to in section 35. 

extended in one or more directions without possessing great 
bulk. The outgrowths of nerve cells for example may attain a 
length of several feet, as when the nerve fibres extend from the 
trunk to the tips of the toes. 

35. Structure. — The following parts are to be distinguished 
in the typical cell: — (i) a general cell substance, partly living 
protoplasm, partly non-active matter either organic or in- 
organic; (2) usually a single highly differentiated nucleus 
which contains living protoplasm and is clearly demarcated 
from the protoplasm about it; (3) one or more specialized 
bodies known as centrosomes; (4) a cell wall or membrane 
(Figs. 4 and 5). 

The cell-substance or cytoplasm embraces that portion of 
the protoplasm outside the nucleus. This is apparently made 



THE ANIMAL CELL 21 

up of a more dense colloidal portion which coagulates readily 
with certain reagents, and the more fluid cell sap which is com- 
posed of water with sugar, inorganic matter, and other sub- 
stances dissolved in it. Suspended in the protoplasm as a part 
of its formed substance may be starch grains, fats, crystals, and 
certain distinct, active bodies known as plastids, mitochondria, etc. 

36. The Nucleus. — The usually single nucleus lies im- 
bedded in the cytoplasm and is ordinarily separated from it 
by a thin membrane. Nuclei vary greatly in shape, size, and 
degree of differentiation. While it is not always possible to 
find definite nuclei in all cells, it seems probable that all cells 
have nuclear material in one form or another at some stage 
of their history. The internal structure of the nucleus is 
equally as complex as that of the cytoplasm, having both living 
and non-living portions. It usually consists of a network 
of threads (chromatin) readily stained by certain dyes. In 
the meshes of this a less easily stainable material occurs 
(achromatin) , a portion at least of whicfi is active. One or 
more deeply stainable bodies, called nucleoli . and containing 
accumulations of chromatin, usually occur, the real significance 
of which is difficult to estimate. 

37. Centrosomes or Centrospheres. — These bodies when 
present lie in the cytoplasm but are closely related to the 
nucleus, and are associated with certain phases of cell activity 
(see "cell division," §41). The centrosphere is a somewhat 
clear mass about the centrosomes. 

At certain times the cytoplasmic elements radiate from the 
centrosomes in a very characteristic way (Fig. 8, c). These 
extend even into the nucleus and are associated with a rear- 
rangement of the chromatic elements. Because of this the 
centrosphere is often spoken of as an attraction sphere. The 
origin of the centrosomes is still a matter of disagreement. 

38. Cell Wall. — A cell wall usually surrounds the proto- 
plasm. It may be a non-living organic secretion, or may con- 
sist of metamorphosed or altered protoplasm in connection 
with such secretion. The wall is protective and supportive 
in function, and varies much in thickness, resistance, etc. 



22 



ZOOLOGY 



Animal cells as a rule are not provided with such well de- 
veloped and resistant walls as are plant cells. 

39. Cell Functions. — Since the cell is only a definite unit 
mass of protoplasm, its functions are in general those which 
have already been described as protoplasmic functions. They. 




Pig. 6. Modes of cell reproduction. A, B, and C, stages in the reproduction of the Infusorian, 
Colpoda, by the breaking up of the protoplasm to form numerous cells. A. encysted stage; B, 
protoplasm escaping, spores partly formed; C, spores completely separated (adapted from Rhum- 
bler); D, budding in Chlamydomyxa, a lowly Rhizopod. The bud is finally constricted off from 
the mother cell, b, bud; cw., cell wall; m, mother cell; n, nuclear matter; s, spores 

Questions on the figure. — Compare the process and the results of the two modes 
of cell reproduction shown in this figure. Can you describe the fate of the 
"mother" cell in the two cases? 

are merely localized within the cell. The cell wall when present 
would naturally modify and limit in important ways, the more 
active protoplasmic functions, especially motion. In such cases 
the independent motion characteristic of so many cells must be 
accomplished by special devices. These frequently take the 
form of cilia or flagella, which are thin protoplasmic fibres pro- 
jecting beyond the cell surface and used after the manner of 
oars. Locomotion of cells is not confined to single-celled or- 
ganisms, but is found in many cells of the higher animals and 
plants — as colorless blood cells, sexual cells, etc., which have a dis- 



THE ANIMAL CELL 23 

tinct motion of their own. The muscle cells of higher animals 
possess the power of contraction and motion in a high degree. 

40. Reproduction. — The cell grows as a result of the nu- 
tritive processes and reaches the limits of size determined by- 
its special conditions. The internal and external conditions 
together constitute a stimulus to the breaking up or division of 
the protoplasmic unit. This may occur (i) by spore forma- 
tion, breaking up of the protoplasm into numerous masses, each 
of which has the essential qualities of the whole (Fig. 6, A, and 
B)\ (2) by budding, in which a process, or several processes, 
appears on the cell, develops into a body like the original cell, 
and finally becomes separate from it (Fig. 6, D) ; (3) by division. 
in which there is a division of the original protoplasm into 
two essentially equal parts. In the last case neither of the 
cells can be considered the parent of the other. 

41. Cell Division. — Cell division may be effected in either 
of two ways, (a) by direct or amitotic division, in which the 

Fig. 7. 






A B C - D If 

Fig. 7. Direct nuclear division (amitosis), in the egg-follicle of a cricket. — (Reproduced by 
courtesy of The Macmillan Company frvm Dahlgren b> Kepner's "Textbook of the Principles of 
Animal Histology.") 

Questions on the figure. — Why is this appropriately called direct division? 
How does it compare with the process pictured in Fig. 8, in method and in results? 

nucleus and cell merely constrict into two nearly equal parts 
without any elaborate preliminary rearrangement of the nuclear 
material (Fig. 7) ; and (b) indirect or mitotic division. The latter 
is the usual method and is very complicated. By means of it 
a very even division of the substances and structures of the 
nucleus, especially, seems to be secured. 





24 ZOOLOGY 

The more striking stages in the process as it usually occurs 
are outlined in the text and figures which follow. The centro- 
somes and nucleus will be seen to be especially active. Such 
a description is only typical of the remarkable series of events. 
There are numerous variations from this in different organisms. 

i. In the quiescent or resting stage the structural elements, 
are distributed in the way which is characteristic of the par- 
ticular cell under examination (Fig. 8, A). The majority of 
cells are found to be in this stage when examined. 

2. When division is about to take place, the chromatin 
elements in the network of the nucleus assume the appearance 
of a coil or tangle of thread (Fig. 8, B). The nuclear membrane 
often breaks up at this time. 

3. The centrosome divides and the halves migrate toward 
opposite poles of the nucleus, and from them as centres radia- 
tions pass into the cell body in- all directions. Across the 
nucleus, from one centrosphere to the other, thread-like lines 
ultimately extend, producing the appearance of a spindle (Fig. 
8, C, sp). In the meantime the coil of chromatin has been 
unraveled and has separated into a number of pieces {chromo- 
somes), which is definite for a given species. These often form 
into V-shaped loops. After certain evolutions, these loops 
come to lie in the equatorial plane of the spindle, the apices 
of the loops pointing toward the centre of the nucleus and the 
threads of the spindle attached to the chromosomes. This is 
called the astroid stage (Fig. 8, C). The process up to this 
point is known as the prophase or preparation stages. 

4. Each of the chromatin loops next splits longitudinally 
into two. This is the metaphase or middle stage (Fig. 8, D). 

5. Each of these halves now begins to move toward its 
appropriate pole or centrosome (Fig. 8, E). As these half -loops 
leave the equator and collect about the poles they give rise to 
a double-star appearance or diastroid stage (Fig. 8, F). This 
is the anaphase. 

6. The loops of chromatin collected at each pole are re- 
constructed into a coil which then passes gradually into the 
resting stage at the new position, a membrane is formed, and 
the daughter nucleus is complete. The spindle disappears, the 



THE ANIMAL CELL 



25 



radial appearance about the centrosomes, and even the centro- 
some itself, may disappear or become inconspicuous. 



Fig 




;«.-.- c sp ;y.|g^ d 

fi>; sp - /'Jli^-chr. 

,--.chr. \ 




.-.sp. 



Fig. 8. Indirect or mitotic division (diagrammatic); A, resting mother nucleus; B, spireme 
stage, with the centrosomes separating; C, D (metaphase;, and E, stages in the division of the 
chromosomes (the cell wall is not shown in these three drawings); F, diastroid (anaphase) stage; 
G and H show the return of the daughter nuclei to the coil and to the resting condition, and division 
of the cytoplasm by the formation of the dividing wall: c, centrospheres ; d, chromatin coil; chr, 
chromosomes; nu., nucleus; n, nucleolus; sp, spindle; w, cell wall. 



Questions on the figure. — What structures possessed by the original cell are 
divided in this process ? In what order ? Why is this termed ' ' indirect ' ' division ? 
Which is the more common, the direct or the indirect ? Can you see any special 
gain secured by this method? Describe the behavior of the nucleolus and the 
nuclear membrane by comparing this with other figures in reference books. 



26 ZOOLOGY 

7. Accompanying or following the last nuclear changes the 
cytoplasm may have become constricted into two masses, or 
separated by the formation of a wall perpendicular to the axis 
of the spindle (Fig. 8, G> H). The daughter cells may separate 
or remain united. These final stages are known as the telo- 
phase. There are other protoplasmic bodies in the cytoplasm 
which seem to divide, though not so accurately as the nucleus, 
into two sub -equal portions. Some observers claim, on the 
contrary, that these bodies arise anew in the cytoplasm or 
nucleus. These are variously named plastids, mitochondria, 
etc. The important point is that there seems to be a definite 
tendency to get equal division of the cell materials. 

Cell division is at the beginning of all the complexities 
of structure found in the higher forms of animals. Each sexually 
produced organism commences life as a single cell, from which 
the adult is formed by cell-division, and the clinging together 
of the daughter cells. 

42. Functions of the Nucleus and Centrosomes. — While we 
can follow some of the externals of the various cell activities, 
the manner of their occurrence and their causes are in the 
greatest obscurity. We are not able to say just what part is 
performed by the different structures involved. It is hazardous 
to say that one structure is more important than another; yet 
it seems to be proven that the nucleus is quite essential in 
cells which possess nuclei, for the proper performance of even 
the ordinary nutritive functions. Some of the unicellular 
animals may be artificially mutilated in such a way that the 
lost parts may be regenerated and the normal form restored. 
A relatively small piece of the Protozoan, Stentor, for example, 
can reproduce the whole, if a portion of the nucleus be present. 
A much larger piece without nuclear material is wholly unable 
to regenerate lost parts, and even seems unable to control or 
exercise the ordinary assimilative functions. The phenomena 
of indirect cell division suggest that activity on the part of the 
centrosomes and nucleus precedes that of the cytoplasm. 
Experiments also show that the division of the cytoplasm may 
be checked or interrupted by external influences without 
interfering with the division of the nucleus. On the other hand 



THE ANIMAL CELL 27 

nuclei separated from cytoplasm are incapable of continuing 
their functions. We are at least safe in saying that these three 
bodies, the centrosome, the nucleus, and the cytoplasm act as 
intracellular stimuli upon each other, and that all are important 
in the work of the highly-developed cell. During nuclear 
division there is probably increased interchange between the 
cytoplasm and nucleoplasm. The breaking down of the nuclear 
membrane facilitates this. 

43. Exercises for Library and Laboratory. — It is very helpful for the student 
actually to study preparations of properly stained cells showing the principal 
structures; also some of the stages of cell division (see Appendix: Laboratory 
Suggestions). If no earlier studies have been made of cells and cell division, the 
growing root tip of Tradescantia, or similar plant, is most satisfactory for gaining 
first impressions of structure, shape, variation, arrangement, differentiation, and 
stages of division in cells. 

What are chromosomes? In what respects and to what extent do nuclei differ? 
What is meant by the "cell-doctrine" ? Give an outline of its history. What are 
mitochondria? Compare the various series of figures in your library illustrating 
the stages of cell division. 

44. Summary. 

1. The cell may be considered as the unit of structure, and 
is to be denned as a "nucleated mass of protoplasm with or 
without a cell wall." 

2. The cell may also be considered the unit of function, in 
the sense that it embodies all vital functions in epitome. 

3. The structure of the typical cell may be outlined as 
follows : 

(a) Cell body 

Cytoplasm — living. 
Cytolymph — non-living, fluid. 
Metaplasm — non-living, solid. 

(6) Nucleus: 

Nucleoplasm — living. 
Chromatin. 
Achromatin. 
Nucleolymph — non-living, fluid. 
Metaplasm — non-living, solid. 
[Protoplasm = Cytoplasm + nucleoplasm.] 



28 ZOOLOGY 

(c) Centrosphere. irroTj . ' 

(d) Cell wall. 

(Instead of regarding any particular part of trie protoplasm as 
"riving" many investigators prefer to consider the life activi- 
ties of the cell as merely the interaction of the various parts, 
no one of which is more alive than another.) 

4. In addition to the general functions of protoplasm which 
cells possess we need to consider in connection with cells the 
additional functions : 

(a) Locomotion. 
(6) Reproduction. 

5. Reproduction of cells occurs by spore formation, by 
budding, and by division. Division of the nucleus may be 
either direct or indirect. 

6. The following diagram, adapted from Flemming will 
serve to represent the stages in indirect division of the nucleus : 

One mother nucleus. Two daughter nuclei. 

(«) Resting stage. Resting stage (j. 1 = 

\ (6) Spireme stage. ."» _ p . Spireme stage, (f ) 

\(c) Astroid stage. > ~ ' Astroid stage (e. = anaphase. 

(d) Division of chromatin loops = metaphase (d. / 
— _> 

7. The important effect of this complicated process is, ap- 
parently, to secure an equal division qualitatively and quanti- 
tatively of the nuclear elements for the daughter cells. The 
cytoplasmic elements in the daughter cells may be strikingly 
unequal. 

8. The exact relations of the various structures in the cell 
are not known. They cannot be fully understood until the 
chemical and physical nature and interaction of living proto- 
plasm are known. The cytoplasm, the centrosomes, and the 
nucleus are specialized protoplasmic organs which seem to act 
as stimuli to one another, in assimilation, growth, and division. 



CHAPTER IV 

FROM THE SIMPLE CELL TO THE COMPLEX ANIMAL 

45. The Individual as a Cell-composite. — In the simplest 
animals, as the Protozoa, the individual consists of a single 
cell, and the life history of the individual animal is such as 
has already been seen to belong to the cell (Chapter III). In 
such an individual one cannot speak of organs in the ordinary 
sense, for organs as we shall see are made up of cells bound 
together in the doing of certain work. Yet it is important to 
remember that there are none of the necessary duties of life, 
such as getting food, digesting it, breathing, moving, repro- 
ducing, and the like, which are not well done by these simple 
one-celled animals. The many-celled animals agree with the 
simpler ones in that they too start life as single cells appar- 
ently quite as simple as the one-celled animals themselves. 
When the cells divide, however, the daughter cells do not 
separate as in the Protozoa, but form a mass of cells by remain- 
ing together. Owing both to internal and external forces the 
cells in the mass do not long remain alike, but soon show dif- 
ferences among themselves which serve as the basis for the 
great variety of structures found in the bodies of the higher 
animals. The change from the simple cell to the complex 
condition in the adult animals is not a sudden one, but takes 
place very gradually and the work which was at first done 
by the single cell is divided up among the groups of different 
cells composing the body. The division of the work to be 
done makes possible and necessary the specializing of certain 
cells to do each part of it, and the differentiation of structures 
makes it possible to do each separate task better than before. 
Thus differentiation of parts and division of labor go hand in 
hand as we pass from the simple to the complex animals. 

29 



3° 



ZOOLOGY 



46. The Fertilized Ovum as a Starting Point. — In speaking 
of the development of the adult animal from the simpler con- 
dition of the single cell it is necessary to remember that this 
cell, which has the power of giving rise to a complex individual 
and is called a fertilized ovum, has a history of its own that is 
very important. The fertilized ovum represents the union of 
two distinct cells, known as germ or sexual cells, which are 
ordinarily quite different in appearance and produced by dif- 
ferent kinds of individuals, males and females. Both classes 
of cells may be produced by the same individual. This union 
does not produce a double cell, but the parts of each seem to 
fuse with those of the other in a very complete way. 

47. The Ovum. — The germ cell produced by the female is 
known as the ovum, and is typically a spherical cell with 

Fig. 9. 
A B 





Fig. 9. Types of ova. A, primitive amoeboid ovum of Sponge; B, semi-diagrammatic figure 
of spherical ovum of Sea-urchin in which the yolk is uniformly distributed; C, figure of a spherical 
ovum (such as may be found in some Worms or in the Frog) in which the yolk tends to collect at 
one pole, p.p., and the nucleus and protoplasm at the other, a.p.; m, micropyle; nu, germinal vesicle 
(nucleus) ; n, germinal spot (nucleolus) ; y, yolk spheres. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the points of agreement in these three ova? 
The chief points of contrast? What is the function of the micropyle? Is a 
micropyle always present in ova? Why are the poles of the ovum appropriately 
called active and passive? 



abundant nourishment and inactive as compared with the 
male cell. It often has an especially well-developed cell- 
covering. Its nucleus is sometimes called the germinal vesicle 
(Fig. 9). The ovum must be distinguished from what is 
popularly known as an egg. The latter term is loosely used 
to describe the fertilized ovum more or less developed, to- 
gether with its nutritive and protective coats such as occur 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL 



31 



around the eggs of birds and reptiles. Ova differ very greatly 
in size. The largest are found among the birds. The "yellow" 
of these eggs represents the real size of the ovum. Variations 
in size are due not so much to a difference in the amount of 
protoplasm as to a varying amount of food or yolk stored in 
the cell. The food may be uniformly distributed throughout 
the ovum, mingled with the protoplasm, or it may collect at 
one pole, forcing the active protoplasm to occupy the other 
pole (Fig. 9, C). The yolk furnishes food to the young indi- 
vidual or embryo in its early development, that is, during cell- 
division, before it can get food for itself. 

48. The spermatozoon or male element is ordinarily in 
striking contrast to the ovum. It is typically ^very small, 




Fig. 10. Types of spermatozoa. A, from the round worm (Ascaris), with a cap, somewhat 
amoeboid; B, from the Crayfish, with numerous projections; C, from Frog; D, from Sea-urchin. 
h, head; m, middle piece; n, nucleus; /, tail or flagellum. The head is chiefly nucleus. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the chief points of similarity and dissimi- 
larity in these spermatozoa? How do they agree with, and how differ from, the 
ova in Fig. 9? How do they differ from the average cell? What parts of the 
structure of typical cells are believed to be represented in the sperm cells ? Which 
are more like typical cells, the ovum or the sperm cell? Which is more highly 
specialized ? 

active, and with thin protoplasmic projections (Fig. 10). Struc- 
turally, the typical spermatozoon consists of a "head" piece, 
a middle piece, and a ' ' tail ' ' or flagellum. The head is composed 
chiefly of the chromatin material of the nucleus. A delicate 



32 ZOOLOGY 

covering of cytoplasm envelops the head and is drawn out into 
the projection known as the tail (Fig. 10, D). The middle piece 

contains the centrosome of the male cell when this is present. 

49. Early History of Ova and Sperm. — We formerly 
thought of ova and sperm as actually formed by the body of the 
parent. We now know that these germ cells are set apart early 
in the history of each individual, before the "parent" body is 
developed. They of all the cells retain their primitive undiffer- 
entiated nature. The body cells become different in appear- 
ance and powers, — as nerve cells, muscle cells, bone cells, and 
the like. The body does -not produce the germ cells; it merely 
houses and nourishes them during their development. The 
body cells and the germ cells develop side by side, each influenc- 
ing the others in their development. 

After the first putting aside of the primordial germ cells in 
the early life of the individual, the body cells have a period of 
rapid division and growth. During^ this time the germ cells are 
relatively quiet. As the parent animal becomes mature the pri- 
mordial germ cells enter upon a period of activity by which they 
produce such ova and sperm as are described in the preceding 
sections. This period of activity of the germ cells shows three 
stages: (1) a period of increase of the primordial germ cells 
(oogonia and spermatogonia) by division; (2) a period in which 
the last descendents of these divisions enlarge (becoming pri- 
mary oocytes and spermatocytes)', and (3) a period of maturing 
or perfecting these (into ova and spermatozoa) . These stages are 
suggested in Fig. 11. 

50. Maturation of Ova and Sperm. — This third stage, the 
maturation or ripening of the germ cells, shows us some of the 
most remarkable happenings to be found in all biology. Both 
ova and sperm when ripe contain, as a rule, just one-half as 
many chromosomes in their nuclei as are found in the primordial 
germ cells, or in the body cells, of the species to which they be- 
long. Somewhere in the history of the egg and sperm there is 
therefore a reduction division of chromatic material in the nu- 
cleus. It does not always take place in just the same way, but 
the following will illustrate the process. The student should 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL 



33 



/ 







WITHIN THE BODY OF PARENT 
MALE FEMALE 

PRIMORDIAL GERM CELLS 
(J) 

vS' ® UNIVALENT CHROMOSOMES (2X) 

/ ' I \ SPERMATOGONIA 



OOGONIA 



. 7 l . A . 



! 
i 



i 



BIVALENT CHROMOSOMES (X) ^ 

PRIMARY PRIMARY OOCYTE ( $£ ) 



SPERMATOCYTE 



/ \ 
© © ; 






SECONDARY 






/_ \ 



I SPERMATIDS OOCYTES ( X ) ® 

^ — S UNIVALENT CHROMOSOMES (X) V_^ / 

®®® 

ABORTIVE EGGS 




MULTIPLICATION PERIOD 
(MANY GENERATIONS) 



II. GROWTH PERIOD 



111. MATURATION PERIOD 



> IV. FERTILIZATION PERIOD 



CLEAVAGE PERIOD 



VI. PERIOD OF BODY-FORMATION 
BY CELL DIVISION, AND SEG- 
REGATION OF GERM CELLS 



PRIMORDIAL GERM CELL (REMAINING IN THE Body) 



Fig. ii. A diagram of the germ cell cycle, suggesting the changes by which the primordial 
germ cells in the body give rise to the mature eggs and sperm; fertilization; cleavage; and the segre- 
gation of new primordial germ cells as the new body is developed. (See §§49-52, 6o.) The full 
number of chromosomes in the cells of the body is 2x. The half number found at certain stages is 
indicated by x. The large gastrula at the bottom of the figure is to illustrate the"early differentia- 
tion and segregation of germ and body cells. 

Questions on the figure. — Trace the changes of the chromosomes through the 
whole series of stages. The solid black is intended to emphasize the potential 
germ cells. Why are all the cells of the two and four-celled stages represented in 
black ? Why are the chromosomes in the primary oocyte and spermatocyte said 
to be bivalent? What is meant by univalent? What does "continuity of germ- 
plasm" mean? 
3 



34 



ZOOLOGY 
Fig. 12. 



MALE 



FEMALE 




'y)) SPERMATOGONIUM UNIVALENT CHROMOSOMES (ZK) OOGONIUM 



CHROMOSOMES UNITE IN PAIRS 

BIVALENT (X) PRIMARY OOCYTE' 

PRIMARY SPERMATOCYTE 



I MATURATION DIVISION 



(0} j SECONDARY UNIVALENT CHROMOSOMES (Xj SECONDARY OOCYTE 






JO. CLEAVAGE 



Fig. 12. A diagram to show the central place of the fertilized ovum, and the important stages 
leading up to it together with those following it. Compare with Fig. n. The male chromosome 
are figured black and the female light, throughout. Compare descriptive matter in text. 

Questions on the figure. — In what respects is the maturation of the ovum and 
of the sperm similar? In what, different? What is the probable meaning of the 
pairing of the chromosomes (synapsis) in the early maturation stages. How does 
this first division of chromosomes differ from the ordinary divisions. Why may 
fhe polar bodies be called abortive eggs? What is accomplished by the union of 
the sperm and ovum nuclei? In cleavage the chromosomes from both parents 
seem to be distributed equally to all the cells of the body. What is the significance 
of this? How much of Fig. n does Fig. 12 cover? 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL 35 

follow closely the figures n and 12, in order to get the steps 
described. 

When the full-grown primary oocyte and spermatocyte are 
ready to divide at the beginning of the third stage, the chromo- 
somes in a given nucleus unite closely in pairs. Thus when 
division begins there is only one-half the usual number, but each 
chromosome is of double value (bivalent). As the primary cells 
divide into the secondary oocytes and spermatocytes, the bival- 
ent chromosomes behave as single chromosomes in ordinary 
nuclear division and split, and one-half of each bivalent chro- 
mosome passes to each daughter nucleus. In this way each 
secondary oocyte or spermatocyte contains one-half the 
usual number of single (or univalent) chromosomes. By this 
device of first uniting and then separating whole chromosomes, 
instead of splitting the single chromosomes into halves, as 
occurs in ordinary nuclear divisions, an actual reduction of the 
number of chromosomes is secured. Furthermore there may 
be, while these chromosomes are associated, an actual inter- 
change and modification of the substance of each. 

The secondary cells divide once more in forming the mature 
eggs and sperm. In this last division the chromosomes simply 
split as they do in ordinary indirect nuclear divisions. 

In all these steps in the division of nuclear material the his- 
tory of ova and sperm is essentially the same. There are, 
however, very striking differences in the way the cytoplasm, and 
the cell as a whole, behaves. In the formation of the sperm cells 
the protoplasm divides equally in both divisions, and thus each 
primary spermatocyte produces four small spermatids. Each 
spermatid gradually changes, without further division, into a 
spermatozoon. 

In the divisions of the primary oocyte, on the contrary, one 
of the daughter nuclei enters a kind of bud in the wall of the cell 
and carries very little cytoplasm with it. It is clearly an abor- 
tive cell, and is called a polar body. The second nuclear division 
results in another abortive egg-cell or polar body. The first 
polar body sometimes divides into two. All the polar bodies 
finally disintegrate. Thus, since one of the nuclei has almost all 
the cytoplasm and the others almost none at all, there is only one 



36 ZOOLOGY 

mature well-nourished egg as the result of the two divisions. In 
the formation of the sperm there are usually four perfect cells 
arising from each spermatocyte. 

• In the above discussion no account is taken of the fact that 
the male and the female of a species may differ in the number 
of chromosomes found both in body cells and in germ cells. 
Frequently, for example, the oogonia have an even number (2%) 
and the spermatogonia one fewer, an odd number (2% — 1). 
In such cases all the eggs will receive the same number of chromo- 
somes (%). The odd, unpaired chromosome in the spermato- 
cyte does not split, but goes undivided to one pole. This 
results in two kinds of spermatozoa, equal in numbers, one 
having x chromosomes and the other with % — 1 . When these 
sperm cells unite with ova there arise two kinds of individuals, 
one with 2% chromosomes in the body cells and germ cells, and 
the other having 2% — 1. This is the condition. that obtained 
in the original female and male parents. 

5 1 . Fertilization. — The union of a sperm cell with an ovum 
constitutes the act of fertilization. Often there is one (or more) 
special aperture {micropyle) in the outer egg-membrane through 
which the spermatozoon finds entrance. Usually only one 
sperm cell gains admission to the interior of the ovum, whether 
by way of the micropyle or through the unmodified membrane. 
Changes normally occur in the membrane as soon as one sperm 
enters, by which all others are excluded. In eggs which have 
been kept too long or subjected to unfavorable conditions, the 
response of the membrane may not be so quickly effected and 
several spermatozoa may enter. Such polyspermy occurs nor- 
mally in some species. Multiple fertilizations may produce 
monstrosities. The sperm cell may enter the egg even before 
the polar bodies are formed; or it may enter after maturation 
is completed. It brings into the egg the nucleus, the centro- 
some and a very small amount of cytoplasm. It at once organ- 
izes itself as a second nucleus of the egg and is nourished by its 
substance. The sperm nucleus and the egg nucleus, each 
carrying one-half the full number of chromosomes of the species, 
now typically draw together and organize into a new nucleus. 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL 37 

Thus is formed the first segmentation nucleus, and the egg is 
fertilized. With the addition of the chromosomes in the male 
nucleus the fertilized ovum contains the same number of chro- 
mosomes as before maturation, which in each species of animals 
is a constant number, except for the differences between the 
sexes. It appears that fertilization restores to the -female cell 
essentially what is lost in the process of maturation, and in 
addition serves to stimulate it to active nuclear and cytoplasmic 
division as indicated in the next paragraph. 

52. Segmentation or Cleavage. — Following shortly upon 
fertilization, if conditions are favorable, ordinary mitotic nuclear 
division begins and the ovum divides promptly into 2, 4, 8, 16, 
etc., cells {blastomeres). In the first division the chromosomes 
split, and one-half of each chromosome brought in by the sperm 
nucleus and one-half of each furnished by the egg-nucleus go to 
each daughter nucleus. This is continued in later divisions, and 
in this way every cell of the body gets its chromatic material 
equally from the father and the mother. The resulting cells be- 
come smaller and smaller with each division, since the whole egg- 
mass does not increase appreciably in size meanwhile. 

The first three cleavage planes are usually perpendicular to 
each other. Their position is much modified, however, by 
the presence of food or yolk substance in the egg. The yolk in 
general retards cleavage. If the yolk is in small quantity and is 
uniformly distributed through the egg, the blastomeres will be 
about equal in size (Fig. 13, A), and will continue to divide with 
practically equal promptness. If there is much of the yolk 
it is not likely to be uniformly distributed. Under the influence 
of gravity and internal forces, the yolk is likely to collect at the 
. lower, and the protoplasm and nucleus at the upper, pole of the 
ovum (Fig. 13, B, C). The protoplasmic pole is known as the 
active or formative pole, and the lower as the passive or nutritive 
pole. The polar bodies are normally freed at the formative pole. 
Under these circumstances the blastomeres at the nutritive pole 
are larger and divide less rapidly than those, in which the proto- 
plasm is in excess. If the yolk is excessive in amount that por- 
tion of the ovum in which it collects may be totally prohibited 
from dividing as will be seen in Fig. 13, C, D. 



38 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 13. 




A B C 

Fig. 13. Cleavage and gastrulation as affected by yolk (not drawn to scale). The vertical 
rows A, B, C, and Z> represent different classes of ova. A, an ovum with little yolk; B, one with 
considerable yolk collected at the lower pole (p.p.) ; C, one with a large amount of dense yolk crowd- 
ing the protoplasm to one side (a.p.) ; D, ovum with dense yolk collected at centre. The numerals 
(1-4} indicate stages in cleavage and gastrulation: 1, ova; 2, 4-8 celled stages of segmentation; 
3, blastomeres, blastula stage; 4, gastrula stage, a, archenteron; a.p., active pole; bl, blastoderm; 
bp., blastopore; ec, ectoderm; en, entoderm; ma. macromeres; mi, micromeres; p.p., passive pole; 
s.c.., segmentation cavity; y, yolk; y.c, yolk nuclei. 

Questions on the figures. — What constitutes the difference between the active 
and the passive pole? Judging from the drawings and from your references to 
texts does gravity have any influence in determining the position of these? Your 
evidences? Which pole gives rise to ectoderm? Why does the food substance 
interfere with segmentation? What is the difference between the segmentation 
cavity and the archenteron? How does the presence of food substance modify 
the formation of an archenteron ? 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL 39 

53. Forms of Segmentation. — The conditions suggested above give rise to the 
following classes of segmentation. 

A. Total segmentation (in which the planes of cleavage pass through the egg). 

L Equal: in which there is little yolk material, and that is well distributed. 
(Illustrated in most of the lower invertebrates and mammals.) Fig. 
13. A. 
II. Unequal: in which there is a moderate amount of yolk which accumulates 
at the passive pole. The cells at the active pole are more numerous and 
smaller than at the passive. (Illustrated in many mollusks and in the 
Amphibia.) Fig. 13, B. 

B. Partial segmentation (in which a portion of the egg does not divide). 

I. Discoidal: in which there is an excessive amount of yolk, with the 
nucleus and a small mass of protoplasm occupying a disc at the active 
pole. This disc alone segments, and the embryo lies upon the yolk. 
(Illustrated in the eggs of fishes, birds and reptiles.) Fig. 13, C. 
II. Peripheral: in which an excess of yolk collects at the centre of the ovum, 
with the protoplasm at the periphery. The dividing nuclei assume a 
superficial position and surround the unsegmented yolk. (Illustrated in 
the eggs of insects and other arthropods.) Fig. 13, D. 

54. Blastula and Morula. — As cleavage continues the bias to-, 
meres remain associated in a spherical mass. The individual 
cells project beyond the general surface not unlike the lobes 
of a mulberry, and for this reason this stage is called the morula 
or mulberry stage (Fig. 13, 2). By the growth of the cells and 
by the imbibition of water the morula may become a hollow sphere 
of cells {blastuldy the central cavity of which is filled with fluid. 
The cavity is termed the segmentation cavity (Fig. 13, s.c). 
Some animals, such as Volvox, never develop beyond the mor- 
ula or the blastula stage. 

55. Gastrula* — In those eggs in which the segmentation is 
total, a next important step is the pushing in of that side of 
the blastula which corresponds to the original nutritive pole. 
The process is known as invagination, and the product as a 
gastrula (Fig. 13,4). It takes place much as one might suppose 
one side of a hollow rubber ball to be dimpled or infolded by the 
exhaustion of the air within. The gastrula is to be described 
as made up essentially of two layers of cells, one external and 
called ectoderm, and one within called entoderm (Fig. 13, 4). 
The segmentation cavity may, be wholly obliterated; in that case 
the entoderm and ectoderm come to lie in contact. The cavity 
of the invagination of the gastrula is the archenteron or embryonic 



40 



ZOOLOGY 



digestive tract; the opening into it, that is, the mouth of the 
gastrula, is the blastopore (Fig. 13, bp). Such an organism as 
Hydra (see Fig. 81) may be looked upon as a permanent gastrula, 
somewhat modified in form. In morulas in which the seg- 
mentation cavity is small and the cells at the nutritive pole are 
large (Fig. 13, C, 4) this simple condition is much obscured, 
and invagination as described above becomes impossible. Nev- 
ertheless early in development the cells which produce the two 
primitive layers are to be distinguished, and their relations are 
usually substantially as detailed. If the term gastrula is applied 
to these we have to say that they are formed in some other way 
than by ordinary invagination. 

56. Library Reference. — By reference to books on embryology the students 
may report briefly on gastrulation by overgrowth (epibole), and by delamination. 
Compare the results attained by the various methods. Note what' is constant in 
the methods and in the results. 

57. Germinal Layers. — The ectoderm and entoderm have 
thus far been mentioned as the primary germinal layers of cells. 
Some of the Invertebrates have only these two layers, but in 




Fig. 14. Modes of forming mesoderm (diagrams modified from Whitman and Selenka). 
A and B, special mesoblasts distinguishable early in segmentation (Annelid): A, surface view from 
active pole; B, sectional view of same, ec, micromeres destined to form ectoderm; en, macromeres 
destined to form entoderm; m, primitive mesoblast which produces the mesoderm. C, amoeboid 
mesodermal cells (c) budding from entoderm into the segmentation cavity (s.c), in an Echinoderm. 
a, archenteron. 

most cases a third mass of cells comes to be situated between the 
ectoderm and entoderm, from which important organs are de- 
rived. The third or middle layer (mesoderm) differs somewhat 
in its origin in the different groups of animals. It may originate 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL 41 

(1) from the multiplication of a few special cells which, before 
invagination, in early cleavage stages, become distinct from 
those that are to form ectoderm and entoderm (Fig. 14, A and 
B, m); (2) by means of isolated, wandering cells budded from 
the other two layers, particularly the entoderm (Fig. 14, C, c)\ 
or (3) from entoderm, in the form of pouches or of solid buds 
of cells which arise from the walls of the archenteron and extend 
into the segmentation cavity (Fig. 15, m). In some instances 
there may occur a combination of these methods. 





Fig. 15. 


A 

s ; c - e>u 
1 / 








^ Qy *r 'Sifff 


uiM^raH fill? MrSr--**- 50 



1' CO. 

Fig. 15. Mesoderm formed by pouches from entoderm after gastrulation. A and B, early 
and later stages in formation of mesoderm and ccelom. a, primitive gut; bp., blastopore; cos, body 
cavity, formed from pockets of the archenteron; ec, ectoderm; en., entoderm; m., mesoderm; m.sc. 
body- wall mesoderm; m.sp., visceral mesoderm; s.c, segmentation cavity. 

Questions on figures 14 and 15. — Enumerate the three modes of mesoderm 
formation figured here. In which type may the mesoderm be identified most early 
in the embryonic development? By comparing with other texts determine in 
what groups of animals the mesoderm is formed as in Fig. 15. 

58. Ccelom, or Body Cavity. — When the mesoderm develops 
by the last mentioned method, i. e., by the evagination of the 
wall of the primitive gut (Fig. 15, m), we see a pair of folds, or 
a series of pockets, the cavities of which are at first continuous 
with the archenteron, but later become separate from it and 
entirely surrounded by the mesodermic layers. The outer wall 
of the mesodermic pouches joins the ectoderm and forms a 
body wall, and the inner applies itself to the entodermal wall 
of the gut. The space between is the ccelom or body cavity. 
When the mesoderm arises as a solid mass, instead of a pocket, 
the body cavity is formed by the splitting of the mass into an 
inner and an outer portion. When the ccelom is formed by 
several pockets the cavities of these may ultimately coalesce, 



42 ZOOLOGY 

forming a single body cavity. Such a cavity is found in all 
the vertebrates and in the higher invertebrates, although it 
may become more or less obscured and modified in the adult. 

59. Differentiation of Organs and Tissues. — We have al- 
ready in these three layers and their foldings the fundamental 
outline of that differentiation which is to give us the complex 
animal form found in the adult. From these layers, singly or in 
combination, all the. tissues and organs of the body arise. The 
various layers become locally thickened, folded, or otherwise 
modified in form by rapid cell division, thus producing the begin- 
nings of organs. At a later date differentiation takes place 
among the cells, and tissues arise (see next chapter) . In general 
each layer gives rise to such structures as its position and relation 
to the other layers would suggest. This is especially noticeable 
in the ectoderm and entoderm. The ectoderm is more closely 
related to the outside world, and from it are produced the pro- 
tective and sensory structures. These include the outer portion 
of the skin and the hard parts often associated with it, and the 
whole nervous system together with the sensitive portions of the 
organs of special sense, as. the retina of the eye. The entoderm 

[ is derived from the cells which contain, or at least are closely 
related to, the food originally stored in the ovum (Fig. 13), and 
it comes to lie in the interior of the embryo. It furnishes the 
lining of the adult digestive tract as well as the essential parts 
of the glands and other outgrowths arising from it. The meso- 
derm gives origin to the muscles and to the supportive tissues, 
to the blood vessels and blood. .Many of the organs are made 
up of contributions from two or all of these germinal layers. 
Students must be referred to special textbooks on embryology 
for a more extended account of the manner in which the germinal 
layers give rise to adult organs. 

60. Summary of the Life-cycle and the Meaning of the 
Steps. — It is important that the student bring together the 
essential points in the cycle of events that occur in the life 
history of an organism from one generation to the next. 

1. Fertilization. — If we start with the mature egg and sperm 
ready to unite, we must recall (§50) that each of these has lost, 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL 43 

by the reduction division, one -half of the natural number of 
chromosomes in the species. There is an increasing body of 
evidence for the belief that the chromosomes chiefly bear the 
hereditary characters from one cell to another and hence from, 
one generation to another. When the nucleus of the sperm 
unites with the nucleus of the egg in fertilization one-half of 
the chromosomes in the new nucleus thus comes from each of 
the parents. Fertilization may be said then to do two things: 
(a) it unites the substances carrying hereditary qualities from 
two parents (usually) ; and (b) starts the development of the 
egg (Figs, ii, 12). 

2. Cleavage, and the Segregation of Germ Cells. — The fertilized 
egg soon begins to divide (cleavage). The resulting cells may be 
much alike or may be very different in size and contents, from the 
very beginning. (See Fig. 13.) Most of these cells enter directly 
into the making of the adult body by the differentiation into 
entoderm and ectoderm, and later into nerve cells, muscle cells, 
gland cells, and the like. It has been clearly shown, however, 
for some species, that certain undifferentiated cells are very 
early put aside, which do not take direct part in the develop- 
ment of the tissues of the body. By tracing the history of 
these cells through the various stages of embryonic develop- 
ment it is found that these are primordial or ancestral germ 
cells and that they ultimately produce the sperm and egg cells 
with which we are familiar. (See Figs. 11 and 12.) Itfis 
probable that something similar will be found to be true of 
animals generally. 

3 . The Parallel Development of the Body and the Germ Cells. — 
From this time on two quite different things are happening in 
every normal body as it develops: (a) the body cells are multi- 
plying, growing, and' because of the hereditary qualities which 
they carry are differentiating to form the tissues and organs of 
the animal; and (b) the primordial germ cells, which have come 
from the same egg, and are cousins— not descendants of the 
body cells — are dividing and growing, but not differentiating. 
During whatever time is necessary for the organism to develop 
its body tissues and organs, the primordial germ cells are finding 
the permanent place they are to occupy in the body and are, 



44 ZOOLOGY 

in cooperation with certain of the body cells, forming the inner 
sex glands, — testes and ovaries. 

4. Sexual Maturity and the Perfection of the Ova and Sperm. — 
In this parallel development of the germ cells and the body cells 
it is certain that they modify each other profoundly. The 
germ cells depend for their supply of food and oxygen, etc., upon 
the activities of the body cells. Undoubtedly the wastes of the 
body cells also influence the germ cells. However, it seems that 
the presence and products of the germ cells even more modify 
the growth of the body. This is especially true as the germ cells 
and glands approach maturity. In a number of species it has 
been shown that the development of certain parts of the body 
is very much changed if the maturing sex glands are removed 
early in life. In general it is believed that the special (i. e., 
secondary sexual) differences in the bodies and the instincts of 
the males and females of a species are largely due to the effect 
of the development of sperm and ova within the bodies. That 
is to say, the sex qualities in the bodies and instincts are directly 
produced by secretions (hormones) manufactured by the inner 
sex organs (testes and ovaries). 

In the last steps whereby the spermatogonia produce sperm 
and the oogonia produce eggs, there are two happenings very 
important in development : (a) the union of the simple chromo- 
somes of a nucleus, originally derived from the two parents, to 
form the bivalent chromosomes; and (b) the separation of these 
at the next division in such a way as to reduce the simple 
chromosomes to one-half the number usually found in the cells 
of the species (Figs. 12, 13). 

It will be recalled that the chromosomes found in any primor- 
dial germ or body cell are descendants of chromosomes that came 
in equal numbers from the egg and sperm nuclei when these first 
united. We have seen that every cell gets its part of every one of 
these chromosomes. It is believed, when these chromosomes 
unite in pairs in the act of maturing, that they do not unite in a 
chance manner, but that those pairing are corresponding chromo- 
somes coming originally from the mother and father. By ' ' cor- 
responding" we mean in general the chromosomes that tend to 
determine the same traits. In other words this union is the 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL 45 

final scene in the mixing of male and female qualities which 
began when the egg and sperm united in fertilization. The 
protoplast of ovum and sperm unite at fertilization; but the 
final union of the chromosomes of the ovum and sperm is de- 
layed until near the time of the formation of the next generation 
of sperm and ova. It is possible that these bivalent chromo- 
somes may exchange material before their final separation. 

The reduction of the chromosomes to one-half their typical 
number is clearly a device which maintains the standard number 
when the ovum and sperm unite. If they were not reduced the 
number of the chromosomes, and the accompanying hereditary 
effects, would be doubled at every fertilization. 

6 1 . Summary. 

i . All the higher animals begin life as a single cell and reach 
their adult condition by a continuous series of divisions. By 
the growth and specialization of the cells arising from these 
divisions the great complexity of the adult body is produced. 

2. This initial cell — the fertilized ovum — represents the 
fusion of two independent and unlike cells: the ovum (female) 
and the spermatozoon (male). 

3. Before the union (fertilization) occurs, the ovum reduces 
its nuclear material, by two successive divisions, to one-fourth 
its original amount and the chromosomes to one-half their 
original number, without a corresponding reduction of the cyto- 
plasm. The spermatozoon in its development undergoes a 
similar reduction of chromosomes and a great reduction of pro- 
toplasm. When fertilization occurs the full number of chromo- 
somes is restored to the new organism. This reduction and 
restoration of chromatin is believed to play a large part in 
inheritance. 

4. After the union of the male and female cells the fertilized 
ovum divides rapidly (segmentation or cleavage) forming a mass 
of cohering cells. The nature of these cells and of the mass 
depends much on the amount of yolk in the ovum and on its 
distribution. 

5. By processes which differ in different animals according 
to the nature of the segmentation, the cells become arranged 



46 ZOOLOGY 

with a layer outside (ectoderm), a layer within (entoderm), and 
from these a third layer or mass of cells lying between the other 
two (mesoderm). The entoderm bounds a cavity (archenteron) 
which communicates by a pore (blastopore) with the outside 
world. Within the mesoderm may be found a cavity (ccelom). 
6. The ectoderm gives rise to the outer portions of the skin, 
its protective and sensory structures, to the nervous system, 
and frequently to the lining of the openings into the body.. The 
entoderm lines the principal part of the digestive tract. The 
mesoderm gives rise to most of the other structures of the body. 

62. Suggestive Topics for Library Work. 

1. What suggestions have been offered as to the advantage 
of the addition of the male nucleus to that of the female in 
fertilization? Has a similar result ever been attained arti- 
ficially by means of chemical or other stimuli ? 

2. What explanations have been offered as to the signifi- 
cance of the process of maturation? Trace the maturation 
of the sperm cells more fully. 

3. What classification of ova do the text-books make? 
What is the basis of the classification? To what extent do 
eggs of different animals vary in size, shape, envelopes, etc. ? 
Give examples. 

4. Is there any explanation of the fact that there is such 
a difference in the amount of food substance in the eggs of 
different animals? 

5. Trace out by reference to a text -book of embryology the 
principal changes by which the adult digestive tract is derived 
from the simple condition found in the gastrula (archente- 
ron). What is the fate of the blastopore? How does the 
permanent mouth originate? 

6. How do males and females compare as to the number of 
chromosomes in their sex or tissue cells ? Where the male has 
(as is frequently the case) an odd number of chromosomes, 
what happens in the reduction division during sperm-formation ? 
Explain the condition indicated by the terms "%" and "y" 
chromosomes. 

7. When there are two kinds of sperm, differing in the num- 



FROM SIMPLE CELL TO COMPLEX ANIMAL" 47 

ber of chromosomes, formed by an animal, what is believed to 
be the difference in result when eggs (which have a uniform 
number) are fertilized by the two kinds ? 

63. Exercises for the Laboratory. 

Specimens of some of the smaller ova (as of the snail, 
fish, sea-urchin) may be secured for examination with the micro- 
scope. Compare the ovum taken from the ovary of a hen with 
a new laid egg, noting especially the structure of the latter. 
Obtain spermatozoa from the testis of a recently killed animal 
(as mouse, fowl, etc.), and examine with highest powers of the 
microscope. If possible secure permanent mounts of segment- 
ing eggs of sea-urchins, showing the 2-, 4-, 8-celled stages, — up 
to the gastrula. 



CHAPTER V 

CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION.— TISSUES 

64. Two things of importance happen to the body as the 
organism- develops from the simple condition of the ovum to the 
great complexity of structure in the adult: (1) the increase in 
the number of cells, which is quantitative in nature, and (2) 
the differentiation of cells, whereby the cells of the various parts 
become very diverse in shape, composition, and powers. This 
is a qualitative change. It is not yet fully known how much 
of the difference in • the cells of the various tissues is due to 
qualitative differences in the daughter cells of a given division, 
and how much is due to external influences and the interrela- 
tions of the cells after division. We know, for example, that 
gravity acting on the food substance of the ovum before division 
does produce such differences among the daughter cells of the 
early cleavage stages as lead to results as diverse as ectoderm 
and entoderm. Doubtless there are also internal processes that 
tend to give rise to similar differences. On the other hand, it has 
been shown by experiment that, even as high up in the animal 
scale as the lowest vertebrates, the blastomeres of the two- or four- 
celled stage may be shaken apart and each develop into a small 
but perfect embryo. If these cells had been left together, each 
would have produced a definite portion of a single animal. 
This experiment shows that up to this stage no specialization 
has taken place which limits the products that come from these 
cells. The blastomeres do not thus develop after the 8- or 
16-celled stage is reached, so far as is known. We are ignorant 
of the causes which determine that one cell shall develop into 
a muscle cell and its neighbor into a bone cell. 

65. Tissues. — A tissue is to be defined as a group of similar 
cells suited by their differentiation to the performance of a 
definite function. This differentiation affects the size, shape, 
and the interrelations of cells, and likewise the chemical and 

48 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 49 

physical structure of the protoplasm, in such a manner as to 
cause great variation in their powers and activities. The 
chemical differences are especially shown in excretion and se- 
cretion, whereby various sorts of materials are deposited within 
and between the cells of the different tissues. The material 
deposited between the cells is known as intercellular substance. 
The intercellular substance differs much in character and 
amount. Both the cells and the intercellular substance are 
important in enabling the tissue to perform its work. In gen- 
eral if the tissue is active (as muscle) the cellular differentia- 
tion is the important point; if, however, the function is a more 
passive one, as support or protection, the nature of the inter- 
cellular substance rather than the cells determines its character 
(bone, connective tissue). 

66. Classification of Tissues. — From a physiological point 
of view tissues may be classed in one of two groups: vegeta- 
tive, and active. The vegetative tissues are those which per- 
form the more passive functions, as nutrition, protection, sup- 
port, etc. They resemble the plant tissues in their functions. 
The two chief classes of vegetative tissues are: epithelial or 
bounding tissues, and .supportive or connective tissues. The 
active tissues may be looked upon as the characteristic tissues 
of animals. The muscular and nervous tissues belong to this 
group. 

67. Epithelial Tissues. — This tissue is characterized by its 
primitive form, i.e., by its relative lack of differentiation, by 
the fact that it is the first to appear in individual development 
(ectoderm and entoderm in the gastrula) , and by the very small 
amount of intercellular substance. It is a bounding tissue and 
consists typically of a single layer of cells, although several 
layers may occur. Epithelium bounds, by its own cells or 
their products, the outside of the body, the lumen of the diges- 
tive tract and its outgrowths, as well as the body cavity and 
the structures contained in it. 

68. Kinds of Epithelial Tissue. — Located in a position 
superficial to the other tissues, epithelium is subject to a wide 
range of variation both as to form and function. Besides its 



5° 



ZOOLOGY 



primary work as a protective layer, the epithelium may have 
a glandular function, being favorably situated for the final 




Fig. 16. Various kinds of epithelial cells (semi-diagrammatic). A, columnar; B, cuboidal; 
C, pavement; D and E, ciliate (sectional views). In F is shown the surface view of pavement 
epithelium, cl., cilia; cm., cuticula. 

Questions on the figures. — For what different uses would you judge these 
variously shaped epithelial cells to be suited? Under what circumstances and on 
what surfaces would you expect to find each type ? Compare with your reference 
texts and see if they are so found. Under what circumstances is a cuticula to be 
expected? Where would it be a disadvantage? What are cilia? 




Pig. 17. Glandular epithelium, a, goblet or slime cells, — unicellular glands; b, similar cells 
which have become depressed below the surface, and empty their secretion through a duct. 

Questions on the figures. — Are the glandular cells modified epithelial cells? In 
what respects do they differ from the cells about them? 



elimination of products from the body. Since it is especially 
exposed it is the layer best adapted by position to receive those 
external stimuli which we know to play such an important r61e 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 



51 



in the life of all organisms. The position of the epithelium 
also renders it specially liable to destruction. To compensate 
for this its primitive or undifferentiated character makes it 
particularly capable of regenerating portions of itself which 
may have been lost. Epithelium is often especially active also 
in the regeneration of other than simple epithelial structures, as, 
for example, the regeneration of nervous cells in a cut earth- 
worm. In close connection with this latter regenerative quality 



Fig. 18. 



3, h 




Fig. 18. A series of diagrams showing progressive stages in the development of a multicellular 
gland from an area of glandular epithelial cells. C and D show two somewhat different types of 
gland, — the cup-shaped and the tubular, e. bounding epithelium; g, gland cells; d, duct; c> connect- 
ive tissue. 

Questions on the figures. — How do the compound glands seem to arise from 
the simpler condition? What is the evidence that glands are lined throughout 
with epithelium? What is gained in the sinking of the glands below the surface? 



is to be considered the fact that the reproductive or sexual cells, 
by which new individuals are produced arise from an epithelium. 
The foregoing enumeration of functions suggests the physiolog- 
ical classification of epithelia: — bounding, glandular, sensory, 
and reproductive epithelia. The same layer may fulfill several 
of these functions at once. 



52 



ZOOLOGY 



69. Bounding Epithelium. — The ordinary protective epithelium may be made 
up of cells cuboidal in shape (Fig. 16, B), or columnar (Fig. 16, A), or much 
flattened (Fig. 16, C). In extreme cases of flattening and hardening we have 
squamous epithelium, e.g., the outer cells of the human epidermis. Motile proto- 




Fig. 19. Sensory and muscular epithelium. A, sensory epithelium, from Worm, showing 
some of the epithelial cells («) modified into sensory cells (5). B, epithelial cells from Hydra showing 
contractile or muscular processes at base (w). 

Questions on the figures. — Is there anything to suggest that the sensory cells 
are modified epithelial cells? What are the principal changes which they have 
undergone as compared with the unmodified epithelium? 

Fig. 20. 




Fig. 20. Diagram of a portion of the ovary of Sea-urchin showing the eggs arising from the 
epithelium (reproductive epithelium) by constriction, e, epithelium; <?, ova in different stages of 
growth. 

Questions on the figure. — "What is an ovary in its simplest form ? Is the re- 
productive epithelium ectodermal, entodermal, or mesodermal in origin, as a 
rule? 

plasmic projections often extend from the free surface of the epithelium. Flagel- 
late epithelium (Fig. 79, D) has one such projection from each cell, whereas ciliate 
epithelium (Fig. 16 D, E) has numerous small ones. Cilia are more common in 
the lower groups of animals, but are found even in mammals, in the moist internal 
passages, as in the nose, trachea, etc. 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 



53 



Membranes bounding the body cavity are called, serous membranes (endothe- 
lium). The lining of the digestive tract is described as a mucous membrane. 

Epithelial cells often secrete upon their outer surface a layer of material 
(cuticula), which serves to protect the cells beneath and the organism as a whole 
from external influences (as the covering of the cray-fish). From the epithelium 
arise various outgrowths, as scales, hair, feathers, and the like. 

70. Glandular Epithelium. — The ordinary columnar or pavement epithelium 
may here and there present cells or areas of cells which are specially active in 
producing and pouring out on their free surface certain materials, called secretions. 
In its simplest form the gland or secreting surface may consist of a single cell, as 
the goblet or slime cells (Fig. 17, a). 

Such a cell may become much enlarged and sink below the general level of the 
epithelium, retaining in the meantime a narrow connection with the exterior (Fig. 
17, b). Multicellular glands -represent areas of such cells which have sunk below 

Fig. 21. 




Fig. 21. Section through ovary of a young Mammal (modified from Wiedersheim). The eggs 
(0) are seen to be formed from the epithelium by a process somewhat more complex than in Fig. 18. 
c, connective tissue of ovary; e, epithelium;/, follicle of epithelial cells in which the ova ripen; 0, ova 
in different stages of ripeness. 

Questions on the figure.— In the ovary of the mammal what additional service 
does the epithelial layer render the ovum after its formation ? Is it apparent that 
there is anything gained by the sinking of the ovarian follicles into the tissue of the 
ovary, instead of escaping immediately, as in Fig. 20 ? 



the surrounding surface, forming a tube- or flask-shaped cavity, which may become 
very much branched. Glands with such branched ducts are described as compound. 
They consist of numerous final secretory sacs communicating by ductules with a 
common duct or outlet to the surface. Transitional conditions between the 
simple secretory epithelium and the compound gland may be seen in Fig. 18. 

71. Sensory Epithelium. — In the lower animals there may be found here and 
there over the surface of the body modified epithelial cells, which are specially 
capable of being stimulated by contact or other stimuli to which the organism may 
be exposed. Likewise in higher forms we find highly specialized areas of sensitive 



54 ZOOLOGY 

cells, which can be shown to belong primarily to the epithelium. These are the 
end organs of special sense, as touch, sight, and the like, and they get their special 
value from their connection with what will be described presently as the nervous 
tissues of the central nervous system. The sensory cells are typically spindle-like 
or even hair-like in form, often extended as fine fibres at the inner end, whereby 
connection is established with the nerves (Fig. 19, A). 

72. Reproductive Epithelium. — The sexual cells, both male and female, arise 
from epithelium, ectodermal, entodermal, or, as is usually the case, mesodermal. 
The budding of the sexual epithelium, in the development of the germ cells, sug- 
gests the formation of glands (Figs. 20, 21). The sexual cells often develop at the 
expense of the epithelial and other cells about them. It will be recalled that the 
primordial sex cells, from which the reproductive epithelium and other essential 
parts of the reproductive organs are derived, were set apart in the early life of the 
individual (see §49). 

73. Supportive or Connective Tissues.— This class of tissues 
embraces the bulk of the non-active tissues in animals. They 
vary much in appearance and structure, agreeing in little except 
in their mesodermic origin, their passivity, and in the preva- 

FlG. 22. 




Fig. 22. Cellular Connective Tissue, showing large vacuoles, v, in the protoplasm. 

Questions on the figure. — Would you say that these cells are of a high or a low 
order of differentiation? Why? Is there any intercellular substance? Where is 
tissue of this kind found? (See reference texts.) 

lence of intercellular substance. The intercellular substance 
gives the distinctive character to the connective tissues, the 
cells having a relatively unimportant place after the produc- 
tion of the intercellular substance. The general function 
of the supportive tissues is to bind and sustain the more active 
tissues in their relations to the body as a whole. The classifica- 
tion of supportive tissues is based on differences in the intercellu- 
lar substance. This may be fluid (as in blood) or solid (as in 
bone) ; it may be homogeneous (as in some forms of cartilage), or 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 



55 



fibrous; it may be almost wholly organic, or very largely inor- 
ganic. The principal classes are cellular connective tissues, ge- 
latinous connective tissue, fibrous connective tissue, cartilaginous 
tissue, and osseous tissue. 



Fig. 2 


3- 










\ i I i i i 1 1 M 








•I- 






Fig. 23. Gelatinous connective tissue, showing stellate cells (c), epithelium (e), the gelatinous 
intercellular substance (5), and the intercellular fibres (/). 

Questions on the figure. — What seems to be the relation of the epithelial layer 
to the tissue below it? What classes of cells are found in the gelatinous tissue? 
What is their origin? What is the nature of the intercellular substance? Are the 
fibres cellular or intercellular? 



74. Cellular or Vesicular Tissue forms an exception to the general rule of abun- 
dant intercellular substance. It is an embryonic tissue, — a forerunner of the more 
permanent tissues, — and is chiefly interesting from that fact. The cells have 
large vacuoles or vesicles which are enveloped by a thin layer of protoplasm (Fig 
22). It is found in the notochord of vertebrates. 

75. Gelatinous tissue has a matrix of intercellular substance enveloping stellate 
cells, the radiating projections of which serve to connect them. Fibres are often 
developed in the matrix. . This tissue is abundantly found in the jelly-fish (see 
Fig. 23). 

76. Fibrous connective tissue has in its ground substance a rich supply of 
fibrils variously arranged. The cells or corpuscles are often elongated and 
branched. If the intercellular fibres cross, running in various directions, a loose 
yielding tissue results, as in the ordinary connective tissue about the muscles and 
nerves (Fig. 24, A); if the fibres are parallel the tissue naturally becomes more 
compact. There are two types of the more compact sort differing in the quality 
of the fibres. The latter may be white and inelastic, as in tendons, or yellow and 
elastic. Fat is frequently deposited as spherical drops of oil (Fig. 24, B) in the cells 
of connective tissue. 

77. Cartilage. — In cartilage the intercellular matrix is much firmer than in 
those tissues already described. It may appear homogeneous as in rib cartilage 



56 



ZOOLOGY 



(Fig. 25, A) ; or it may contain numerous fibres which give coherence and elasticity. 
The cells are usually rounded except where they have been flattened by mutual 

Fig. 24. 




Fig. 24. Fibrous connective tissues. A, ordinary connective tissue found binding muscle 
and nerve fibres, showing the fibrous intercellular substance. The cells (c) are never conspicuous 
in this tissue. B, adipose connective tissue showing fat-laden cells' among the fibres (/). 0, oil 
droplets in the cells. 

Questions on the figures. — In these two types of tissue which element gives 
special character to the tissue, the cells or the intercellular substance ? How would 
the deposition of large drops of oil in the cell affect the activity of the cell? Why? 
Why are fatty deposits less hurtful amid connective tissue than elsewhere in the 
body? 

Fig. 25. 



m a 





Fig. 25. Cartilage. A, Hyaline cartilage; B, fibrous cartilage. In the latter a large portion 
of the intercellular substance is conspicuously fibrous. The cells occur in pockets (p) in the matrix; 
/, intercellular fibres. 

Questions on the figures. — What are the points of similarity and of difference 
in the two types of cartilage? In what manner do the multicellular pockets arise? 
What is the nature and origin of the intercellular substance in each case? 

pressure, and usually occur in pockets in the matrix. Cartilage is bounded on its 
free surfaces by a fibrous membrane, the perichondrium. This membrane assists in 
the growth of the cartilage. There are no blood capillaries in cartilage. 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 



57 



Salts of lime may be deposited in the intercellular substance, giving it some of 
•the qualities of bone. 

78. Osseous or Bony Tissue. — These tissues are found only in vertebrates, and 
are the most complicated of the supportive tissues. The firm matrix which is 
secreted by the bone cells consists of a mixture of organic substance and inorganic 
matter, especially the salts of lime. The cells with their fine filamentous branches 
occur more or less regularly between thin plates or lamella of the bony material. 
A cross-section of one of the long bones shows the typical condition. The perios- 
teum is a superficial fibrous membrane about the bone, well supplied with blood 
vessels. Its inner layer of cells is capable of producing bone. Within this is a 
region of firm bone, in which a series of lamellae are parallel with the surface of 
the periosteum. Between the lamellae occur the spaces (lacuna) occupied by the 
bone-cells which have been left behind as the matrix was deposited. Deeper in 

Fig. 26. 



*~L 




Fig. 26. Bony Tissue. A, portion of cross-section of a bone, the upper portion of the figure 
representing the outer surface of the bone, just beneath the periosteum. The open spaces, h, are 
Haversian canals; I, lacunce, occupied in life by bone cells. The minute canals through the bone 
connecting the lacunae are canaliculi. B, a portion of one Haversian system much magnified, h. 
Haversian canal, containing artery (a), vein (v), lymphatic spaces, nutritive cells; c, canaliculi; I, 
lacunae ; la, plate of bony intercellular substance. 

Questions on the figures. — How does bone compare in appearance and structure 
with the other supportive tissues? What is the really living part of bone? How 
is its intercellular substance laid down? How are the cells in the bone nourished? 
How do they come to lie in the solid bone? What changes occur in this type of 
tissue with age? What is the function of the Haversian canal? 

the bone the lamellae and cells are in concentric layers about the numerous blood 
vessels (occupying spaces known as Haversian canals) which penetrate the bone, 
chiefly in a longitudinal direction. The included bone-cells communicate with 
each other and with the blood vessels by processes which occupy minute canals 
(canaliculi) in the intercellular substance (Fig. 26). Within this region and imme- 
diately surrounding the central cavity of the bone is often a mass of spongy bone 
in which the regularity of arrangement of the cells is lost. Bone may be formed 
by replacing cartilage, or wholly independent of it. 



58 




Fig. 27. 



C t 

Blood corpuscles (amphibian), c, colored corpuscles, flatwise and in profile; I., colorless 
corpuscles {leucocytes). 



Fig. 28. 




Pig. 28. Blood corpuscles (human), c, colored; I, leucocytes. The red cells tend to collect in 
rows with the sides in contact. 

Questions on figures 27 and 28. — Compare — by means of the figures, the text 
and reference books — the colored and colorless corpuscles of these two types of 
vertebrates and note the differences. In what other respects do the colored cells 
differ from the white? Which are the less highly differentiated? Reasons for 
your view? Why are the colorless corpuscles also called phagocytes! 

Dentine and enamel, though differing in structure from bone, are to be looked 
upon as belonging to the same class of tissues. They differ chiefly in the fact that 
no cellular elements are included in the secretion. They are thus harder and denser 
than bone. 

79. We find all stages of transition between the more sim- 
ple and more complex supportive tissues, and it may be seen 
furthermore that there is a fundamental embryological sequence. 
In the development of the organism the simpler connective tis- 
sues give place, by transformation or substitution, to the more 
complex. The cellular connective tissue of early life is replaced, 
for example, by cartilage, and this may be transformed into 
bone in adult life. 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 59 

80. Nutritive Fluids. — The body fluids known as blood and lymph are frequently 
classed among the supporting tissues, the fluid portion being regarded as the inter- 
cellular substance and the corpuscles as the cells. They differ however from the 
ordinary tissues in the important fact that the intercellular substance is not pro- 
duced by the cells. In the vertebrates these cells are of two kinds, the amceboid 
or colorless and the colored. Both kinds occur in the blood; the colorless alone are 
found in the lymph. The colored corpuscles are relatively numerous and are disc 
shaped. Regarded as cells they present a series of degenerative changes which 
results in a loss of the distinctively protoplasmic character, by the substitution 
of certain proteid substances, one of which — haemoglobin — is notable for its affinity 
for oxygen. The degeneracy may go. to the extent of the entire loss of the nucleus, 
as in the mammals. The colorless cells have the power of independent motion 
such as is found in the amoeba, and may ingest solid particles of food. The body- 
fluids of the invertebrates contain as a rule only colorless corpuscles, and are there- 
fore more like the lymph of the vertebrates. When their blood is colored it is 
usually from pigment in the plasma or fluid portion of the blood. In addition to 
the cells the blood carries a rich supply of proteid and other substances for use in 
the tissues, of secretions from the various ductless glands, and of waste products 
in process of removal from the body. 

81. Muscular Tissue. — The remaining tissues are charac- 
teristically active. Muscular tissue by its contractility has the 
power of producing movements of the parts to which it is at- 
tached. This contractility of muscle may be looked upon as a 
specialization, and a limitation in direction, of the power of 
contraction which we have seen to be resident. in all living proto- 
plasm. Muscular tissue differs somewhat in structure and 
degree of differentiation in various animals, but in general agrees 
in the presence of elongated fibres which are to be considered as 
modified cells or parts of cells. The contractile muscle substance 
is, in part at least, a plasmic product rather than mere proto- 
plasm; yet it differs from the intercellular substance of the tis- 
sues already described in that it is deposited within rather than 
among the cells. 

Two stages in the differentiation of muscular substance are 
to be noted: (i) the fibres may be plain, in which case we find 
elongated, contractile single cells without conspicuous external 
differentiation (Fig. 29); (2) cross-striate fibres, which always 
show conspicuous differentiation of parts in each fibre. as seen 
under the microscope. The plain fibres are characteristic 
of sluggish animals, and those parts of animals whose muscular 
action is least prompt in response to the nervous stimuli (e. g., 
digestive tract in vertebrates) . The cross-striated fibre usually 






6o 



ZOOLOGY 



represents several incompletely separated cells, or a multi- 
nucleate condition of a much-grown and metamorphosed single 
cell. In both classes the fibres are made up of numerous minute 
strands or fibrillce which in the plain muscle are homogeneous 
throughout, but in the cross-striated are made up of alternating 
segments of lighter and darker optical appearance (Fig. 30, B). 

Fig. 29. 




Pig. 29. Plain muscle fibres, n, nucleus of muscle cell; p, undifferentiated cell protoplasm; p', 
the differentiated contractile portion of the cell. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the two principal portions of these cells? 
How do very young muscle cells compare with older ones in the relative amount 
of these portions in the cell? Which is the more highly differentiated portion? 
Where are such tissues found in the animal body ? Why are muscle fibres elongated ? 



The undifferentiated protoplasmic remnant is often very small 
in amount, and is collected about the nucleus (Figs. 29, 30). It 
may be at the surface of the fibre or in the center, enveloped by 
the contractile matter. A thin membrane (sarcolemma) binds 
the fibrillar into fibres. The fibres are bound together by 
strands of connective tissue into bundles, and of these bundles 
the muscle is made up. 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 



6l 



Fig. 30. 




Fig. 30. Diagram of nervous and cross-striate muscular tissue, showing the mode of connec- 
tion between nerve fibres and muscle fibres. A, nerve cell (g) connected with muscle fibre (m.f .) 
by nerve fibre («./.). The muscle fibre (m.f.) is composed of numerous fibrils (J) which are made up 
lengthwise of alternating discs of lighter and darker substance. These fibrils are shown more 
highly magnified in B and C. In B the fibril is uncontracted; in C it is contracted. D, nerve fibre 
more highly magnified showing a, axis; m, medullary sheath; and s, Schwann's sheath; ax., axon; 
d, dendron; n, node; n.m., nerve-muscle plate. 



I 



62 ZOOLOGY 

82. Origin of Muscle Tissue. — In those animals in which a true mesoderm is 
wanting, the epithelial cells may develop, at their inner extremity, contractile 
roots, either plain or striate (Hydra, Fig. 19, B). These cells may wholly lose 
their epithelial quality and position and become entirely muscular. In the higher 
animals this is very much modified by the early appearance of separate mesoderm 
from which the whole muscular system is derived. 

83. Nervous Tissue: its Functions.— The nervous tissues 
are in close relation on the one hand to the sensory epithelium 
and on the other to the muscular tissue. Through the former 
they receive the stimuli from the outside world; by means of 
their connection with the latter they are enabled to effect re- 
sponses. The reception of stimuli, the transmission of the results 
of stimulation, and the initiation of appropriate responses con- 
stitute the fundamental work of nervous tissue (Fig. 30, A, D). 
In some of the lower Metazoa the same cell may do all these tasks. 

84. Structure. — The principal elements of nervous tissue 
are the nerve-cells {ganglion-cells) and nerve- fibres. The cells, 
which are the centres of nervous activity, are usually large with 
conspicuous nuclei. The fibres are, in their essential parts 
merely outgrowths of the ganglion- cells. These outgrowths are 
of two sorts: the dendron, which is a much, and irregularly, 
branched structure ; and the axon, or nervous fibre proper. The 
ganglion with its dendrons and axons make up a neuron. It is 
believed that the whole nervous system even in the higher ani- 
mals is merely a system of neurons in connection. The impulses 
can go in only one way : into a cell by way of dendrons and out of 
it by way of axons. From the axon of one cell they may pass 
to the dendron of the next; but not in the opposite direction. 
Each cell may have one or more processes arising from it. These 
fibres may pass just as they arise from the cells, without special 
structural modification, to their connections. Such are called 
non-medullated or gray fibres. There are usually however one or 
more protective sheaths formed about this essential axis: (1) 

Questions on Fig. 30. — What are the principal points of contrast between the 
plain and the cross-striate muscular fibres? Enumerate the principal regions of 
the nerve cell figured. How does it differ from a typical cell in form? What are 
the principal parts of the nerve-fibre (D) ? What are the supposed functions of 
these various portions? Why is it necessary for nerve cells to be in connection 
with other kinds of cells? What are the differences between the contracted and 
uncontracted muscle fibre (B and C) ? What is meant by a neuron? 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 63 

the medullary sheath, consisting of a framework filled with a 
fatty material, surrounded by (2) Schwann's sheath, a homoge- 
neous sheath with occasional nuclei along its course (Fig. 30, D). 
Fibres possessing the medullary sheath are called medullated 
or white fibres. 

A nerve cell together with its processes is called a neuron. 
The whole nervous system may be considered as made up of such 
units, which connect with each other by the delicate terminal 
branches of the outgrowths. See Fig. 36. 

85. Origin of Nervous Tissue. — Nervous tissue always arises from the ectoderm 
of the embryo, so far as we know. In some of the lower forms of animals, as the 
Ccelenterata, the nervous cells may be derived individually from the epithelium. 
In such instances they have a close connection with those muscle elements which 
are also of epithelial origin (see § 82). In the higher forms the origin of the nervous 
matter from the ectoderm is somewhat less direct but essentially similar. The 
connection of the nervous centres with the muscles and glands, etc., in the higher 
animals is a secondary condition and is the result of the growth of the nerve fibres 
from the centres toward such organs. What directs their growth to the right place 
when the fibres begin to grow, we do not know. 

86. Summary. 

1. The individual becomes complex by the increase of the 
number of cells, and by their differentiation. 

2. A tissue consists of a group of similar cells with their 
products, which are adapted to the performance of special work 
or function. 

3. Tissues differ morphologically in respect to the form, ar- 
rangement, and structure of the cells, and in the amount, 
arrangement and consistency of the intercellular substance. 

4. Physiological differentiation accompanies the morpho- 
logical, the division of labor becoming very complete in the 
higher forms. The physiological value of a tissue may depend 
either upon the cells or the intercellular substance. 

5. Tissues may be classified as follows: 
A. The vegetative or passive tissues. 

I. Epithelial:— 

function: — protection, absorption, secretion, 

sensation, reproduction, etc. 
kind: — pavement, columnar, ciliate, glandular, 
sensory, muscular, reproductive, etc. 



64 ZOOLOGY 

. II. Supportive or connective: — 

function: — binding, support, protection, 
character : — abundant intercellular substance, 
form: — vesicular, gelatinous, fibrous, cartilagi- 
nous, osseous, nutritive (blood and lymph), 
etc. 
B. The active tissues. 

III. Muscular: — 

function: — irritability, especially to nervous 
stimuli; contraction in a definite direction. 

form : — plain and cross-striate (depending on 
the differentiation of the contractile sub- 
stance.) 

IV. Nervous : : — 

function: — reception of general stimuli, 
transmission of impulses, interpretation, 
and the initiation of appropriate responses, 
form: — central cells (ganglion) with fibrous 
branches (axon, dendron). 
6. The epithelial tissues arise from ectoderm, entoderm and 
mesoderm; the connective tissue, from mesoderm; the muscu- 
lar, chiefly from mesoderm; and the nervous tissue, from 
ectoderm. 

Sy. Exercises for the Laboratory (these may be made as 
extensive as time and facilities will allow). . 

i. Temporary demonstrations of the simpler tissues may 
be made by teasing out with needles small portions of the appro- 
priate material in a drop of water on the slide. 

(a) Blood. — Compare that of earth-worm or insect, frog, 
man. Place a drop of fresh blood on the slide, and cover. 
Examine at once. Permanent preparation of the blood of the 
frog, stained to show nucleus of corpuscles are valuable. 

(b) Epithelium. — Mesentery of cat; film shed from skin of 
frog kept a few days in captivity; cells scraped from the eso- 
phagus of a recently killed frog. 

(c) Connective Tissue. — Found surrounding muscle, i.e., 
lean meat. Compare tendon. 



CELLULAR DIFFERENTIATION 65 

(d) Muscle. ---From wall of stomach, from heart, from skele- 
tal muscles. 

(e) Nerve Fibres. — Small portion of nerve of frog or cat. 

2. Permanent mounts of sections of cartilage, bone, and 
tooth showing dentine and enamel are essential. Properly 
stained preparations of glandular tissue, of nerve cells and their 
branches, and of reproductive epithelium (see appendix), will 
greatly assist the pupils in securing an accurate idea of these 
tissues and their work. 



I 



CHAPTER VI 

THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS, AND THEIR APPROPRIATE 

ORGANS 

88. Protoplasmic Functions.— It has already been stated 
that in protoplasm reside the fundamental powers belonging to 
living things. Through its agency all the vital processes are 
performed. Through the activity of its ferments, foods undergo 
changes that prepare them to be used in the manufacture of 
protoplasm and other complex cell-substances. It alone has the 
power to assimilate or build up these foods into the living state. 
In protoplasm occur the oxidation and other chemical changes 
which result in the manifestation of energy, as heat, motion, 
light, etc., accompanied by the formation of waste products 
which are to be eliminated. The power of receiving and 
responding to surrounding influences, which we have called irrita- 
bility and contractility, is likewise a power of protoplasm. Out of 
these powers arises the possibility of organisms becoming 
adapted to their surroundings. It is not yet possible certainly 
to localize all these functions within the individual cell, although 
it seems probable that in some degree even such protoplasm as 
is found in the Amoeba has localized functions. In many single- 
celled animals there is a considerable localization. 

89. Division of Labor. — As the protoplasmic units, i.e., the 
cells, increase in number by cell division and form large masses, 
the different cells are no longer subjected to the same influences, 
and are not equally favorably situated for the performance of 
all the original functions. . The protoplasm of all cells retains 
the power of using food and of building up their own substance, 
but we find certain activities largely given over to special groups 
of cells; e. g., secretion is specially noticeable in some, contrac- 
tility in some, and irritability in others. ' This division of labor, 
is accompanied by a corresponding differentiation of structure 
which constitutes an adaptation to the special work to be done, 

66 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 67 

r 

and is of great advantage. We have described these structure- 
groups as tissues (see Chapter V) . 

90. Organs. — The tissues which have been described are 
never independent, but are associated with each other in the per- 
formance of a common function, to form an organ. In each 
organ there is usually a principal tissue which determines its 
function (as muscular tissue in muscle, or the glandular tissue 
in glands), and one or more accessory tissues for support or con- 
trol (as connective or nervous tissue in the organs mentioned) . 
To accomplish some of the activities, in the higher animals 
especially, several organs of a similar kind must work together. 
These are sometimes spoken of collectively as systems of organs, 
e.g., digestive system, circulatory system, and the like. 

91. Classification of the Systems of Organs and Func- 
tions. — The work that needs to be done by an organism may -be 
considered under the following heads: (i) metabolism — in- 
cluding digestion, circulation, respiration, assimilation, and 
excretion; (2) protection and physical support; (3) growth; 
(4) reproduction; (5) movement; (6) sensation. Eight sys- 
tems of organs may be distinguished by which this work is done. 
They are (1) the digestive; (2) circulatory; (3) respiratory; (4) 
excretory; (5) skeletal and integumentary; (6) reproductive; 
(7) muscular, and (8) nervous. 

92. Metabolism (Nutrition). — Metabolism embraces two 
sets of processes, (1) constructive or anabolic, known as assimi- 
lation, and (2) destructive or katabolic. By constructive we 
mean all the building-up processes in the organism which 
result in the storing of food and energy, in growth, repair, and 
reproduction. We class as destructive all those processes by 
which the complex cell substances are broken down or rear- 
ranged, and energy set free, leading to change of temperature, to 
nervous or muscular action, to secretion and excretion. In the 
higher animals the nutritive process is a very complicated one 
and demands the cooperation of numerous organs. It embraces 
the ingestion or taking in of food; the digestion of food; its 
absorption from the digestive tract into the body fluids — blood 



68 ZOOLOGY 

and lymph; and its transportation in these systems, which is 
made necessary by the fact that digestion is' confined to a special 
region. It likewise includes the further absorption of these 
materials from the blood and lymph by the cells for whose bene- 
fit all the preceding work has been done ; the assimilative process 
within the cell whereby the food material is made into proto- 
plasm or other complex cell-products; the reception and trans- 
mission of oxygen, by the combining power of which (oxidation; 
see §26) these complex substances are broken down into simpler 
ones — useful, useless, or hurtful to the animal economy. Finally, 
the elimination of the products of this oxidation or burning is a 
necessary part of the nutritive process. If the material elimi- 
nated from the cell is of further use the process is known as 
secretion; if not, excretion. It is undesirable to attempt to make a 
sharp distinction between excretion and secretion. Most so- 
called secretions are really excretions from the point of view of 
the protoplasm which produces them. 

93. The Digestive System. — The simplest condition of 
the digestive tract is found in the gastrula (archenteron, Fig. 
13, 4) or. in Hydra (Fig. 81). Here there is only one cavity 
in the body and the food is taken up immediately by the cells 
needing it. A simple modification of this condition is seen 
in Fig. 31. A still more complicated condition is shown in 
Fig. 95. In this form which we may take as the type, the 
digestive tract is a tube, running through the body, lined with 
its own epithelium and is separated from the body wall by 
the ccelom or body cavity. The tube itself may have any 
degree of complexity, but consists essentially of (1) an an- 
terior portion (stomodceum) lined with ectoderm, (2) a pos- 
terior portion (proctodceum) also lined with ectoderm, and 
(3) a middle portion (mesenteron) lined with entoderm. The 
stomodseum or mouth region is usually supplied with devices 
for the capture and ingestion of the food. The mesenteron 
is the true digestive region. It is supplied with cells which 
secrete materials that act upon foods in such a way as to 
render them capable of being absorbed through the entodermic 
cells into the body cavity, or into that special portion of it known 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 69 

as the circulatory system. Pouches and outgrowths from the 
wall of the mesenteron are of common occurrence. These serve 
to increase the glandular or secreting surface and the absorbent 
surface, and also to retain the food longer in contact therewith 
by retarding its passage through the canal. The removal of 
the digested food from the canal may be effected by absorption 
or by the active engulfing of food by the entodermal cells, much 
as is done by the amoeba. 



Fig. 31. 




g' 


W 








Fig. 31. Stenostoma (after Hertwig). In this Turbellarian the digestive tract (d.t.) is a blind 
sac. St., boundary of stomodaeum and mesenteron; c, cilia; g, ganglion (brain); g', ganglion of a 
new individual which is being formed by fission; 0, mouth; o\ mouth of new individual in process 
of formation; w, excretory system. 

Questions on the figure. — How much of this digestive tract is lined with 
ectoderm? Which portion with entoderm? Is there a proctodeum? What are 
the evidences that the worm is in process of division? Compare this digestive 
tract with those in Figs. 81, 87, 95, 101. 

94. The Respiratory System and Function. — In addition 
to its other food requirements, all protoplasm, in proportion 
to its activity, must have free oxygen. This is obtainable from 
the air or from the oxygen dissolved in water. Oxygen, being 
a gas, must enter the system in a somewhat different way from 
that by which fluids and solids are ingested. It is best obtained 
by absorption through moist, thin-walled membranes. Such 
surfaces, in connection with which blood vessels are usually 
found, constitute the respiratory organs. Any exposed sur- 
face meeting these requirements may serve as such. The 
general surface of all animals is respiratory in some degree. 
In the more complex animals, however, special additional 



7° 



ZOOLOGY 



organs must be provided. This may be effected by thin out- 
growths of the body surfaces, which are especially adapted 
to water forms and are called gills or branchim (Fig. 32); or a 
similar increase may be attained by pits or ingrowths of the 
body surface, suited to get oxygen from the air. Such are 
called lungs or trachea (Pig. 33). Carbon dioxid, a gaseous 
waste product resulting from the union of oxygen with carbon 



Fig. 32. 



Fig. 33. 



b. c. 





b. c. 



Fig. 32. Diagram illustrating gills or branchiae, b.c, cavity in which the body fluids circu- 
late; br., branchial filaments which are merely much thinned out-pocketings of the body wall (w); 
ex, the external medium — water — in which the oxygen is dissolved. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the essential features of gills as suggested 
by this figure? Why are they better suited to water than to air? 

Fig. 33. Diagram illustrating lungs or tracheae, b.c, the cavity in which the body fluids 
circulate; /, the walls of the lung, which are much thinned in-pocketings of the body wall (w); ex., 
the external medium — usually the atmosphere — in which the oxygen is found. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the essential features of lungs as suggested 
by the figure? Why are such organs better suited to aerial than to aquatic life? 
In what respects are gills and lungs better than the mere body- wall for the exchange 
of the gases? 



which takes place in the tissues, is economically eliminated by 
the same organ which admits the oxygen, inasmuch as the en- 
trance of one gas is not retarded by the outward passage of the 
other. This double process constitutes respiration, although 
the latter half is also appropriately described as excretory. The 
surface devoted to the exchange of the gases and the special 
devices necessary to renew the air or water make up the respira- 
tory system. The respiratory organs are frequently associated 
with the anterior or posterior end of the digestive tract. As in 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 



71 



the case of other necessary substances, the blood is the usual 
vehicle by which oxygen is distributed from the gills or lungs 
to the parts of the body needing it. The student will realize 
that this is only the first step in respiration. The real respira- 
tion takes place in the protoplasm of the individual cells. 

95. The Circulatory System and Function. — In such con- 
ditions as are shown in Fig. 81, there is no circulatory system. 
The digested food is merely distributed from cell to cell. In 
animals in which the digestive apparatus is well developed, 



Fig. 34. 



i/t 




Fig. 34. A scheme to represent the circulation of the blood, in its essential features. The 
arrows indicate the course of the blood, a, arteries; aur., auricle or receiving portion of the heart; 
d, digestive tract; c. d., capillaries of the digestive tract; c.r„ capillaries of the respiratory organs; 
c.s., capillaries of the system; va., valves; ve., veins; vt., ventricle. 

Questions on the figure. — What portions of the apparatus are necessary to 
secure circulation? Which secure the real objects for which the circulation 
exists ? Why are valves essential ? What common work occurs in the three classes 
of capillaries figured above? What special type of work is characteristic of each of 
the three? 



some device becomes necessary for the distribution of the food. 
The body cavity with its contained fluids may do this work as 
in Fig. 31. Usually, however, when the mesodermal layers be- 
come well developed, there arises in connection with it a series 
of branching tubes containing special fluids, blood or lymph. 
These tubes by their ramifications connect the digestive sur- 
faces with the various parts of the body. Some branches like- 
wise extend to those special surfaces where the oxygen of the 
external medium may be had. Naturally then the complexity 



72 ZOOLOGY 

and the special structure of the circulatory system depend 
largely upon the position and degree of development of the 
digestive and respiratory organs. In order to secure the neces- 
sary motion of the fluids contained in the tubes, the walls of 
the latter are supplied with muscular fibres, and contract more 
or less rhythmically. If the motion is to have a definitely con- 
tinuous direction, as is ordinarily the case, valves are usually 
so placed that motion in the opposite direction will be im- 
possible. The (one or more) contractile regions are called 
hearts; vessels conducting blood from the heart are arteries, 
those carrying blood toward the heart, veins. In the region 
where the vessels are smallest and have very thin walls, the 
exchanges between the blood and the other tissues occur. This 
is the region of capillaries. The blood system has capillaries 
in the walls of the digestive tract, in the respiratory organs, 
in the kidneys, in the liver, and in and about all the tissues re- 
ceiving a direct blood supply. The capillary region is that for 
which the rest exists; it is the physiologically important part 
of the system. Fig. 34 illustrates the arrangement of parts 
found in a common type of circulatory apparatus. 

96. Demonstration. — Circulation of blood in tail of tadpole; in the web of the 
foot of a frog; or in the fin of small fish. Distinguish veins and arteries. Notice 
behavior of corpuscles in passing through small capillaries. Compare rate of flow 
in vessels of different size. 

97. The Excretory System and Function. — Beside the car- 
bon dioxid eliminated from the blood in the lungs or gills, other 
waste products of oxidation are to be removed from the tissues 
where they are produced. Important among these are the nitrog- 
enous wastes, urea and uric acid. In organisms in which 
there is no regular blood system, these waste products may be 
carried directly from the tissues to the surface by a system of 
tubes beginning as capillaries. In the majority of animals the 
canals (nephridia) pass from the body cavity to the exterior. 
These are seen in a simple condition (Fig. 3 5) in the segmented 
worms. For a more unified condition see unsegmented worms 
(Figs. 88, 89). The kidneys of higher forms are considered 
to be derived from these. In the higher animals the kidneys 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 



73 



have a special blood supply and the waste products are extracted 
from the blood while it is in the kidney. 

98. The Skeletal System and its Functions. — The cells of 
the body frequently excrete from themselves materials which, 
while no longer of use to the protoplasm, are not entirely re- 
moved from the body by the blood and serve important passive 
functions. These excretions or secretions may surround and 
protect and give rigidity to the cell itself (e.g., cell- walls; 
shells in the single-celled animals), may bind the softer cells to- 

Fig. 35. 




Fig. 35. Diagram of a nephridium (simple kidney tubule) of a Segmented Worm, b., &'., 
blood vessels; c, ccelom; d, duct of the nephridium; e, external opening; cf, ciliated funnel opening 
into ccelom; gl., glandular or secreting portion; s, septum; W, body wall composed of longitudinal 
muscle fibres, circular fibres, and epithelial layer; w, wall of gut. 

Question on the figure. — Judging from its relation to the coelom, to the blood 
vessels, and to the outside world what would seem a reasonable function for the 
nephridium ? 

gether into a resistant tissue (intercellular substance in bone, etc.), 
or may be secreted at the surface of the organism as a whole 
(cuticula in insects and shell in mollusks). The hard parts 
serve primarily for the support and protection of the softer 
tissues. Incidentally they come to serve a very important use 
as points of attachment for muscles. The skeleton may be 
external (the integumentary skeleton, or exoskeleton) as in 
crayfish, or internal, as the endoskeleton of vertebrates. In 
many instances both kinds of skeletal structures may occur 
simultaneously, yet it is usually true that if the exoskeleton, 
is well developed the endoskeleton will be poorly represented. 
Each has important advantages and limitations. To allow 
motion as the result of muscular action the skeleton, if rigid, 



74 ZOOLOGY 

evidently must be in segments and jointed. The articulation, or 
joint, is as important for motion as the harder parts. Clearly 
the muscles, to do any work on the skeleton, must attach on 
opposite sides of the joint. 

99. Growth. — There are no special organs of growth, yet 
growth is one of the most immediate and important manifesta- 
tions of the nutritive process. Growth is to be defined as in- 
crease in volume or mass and may result from either or all of 
three processes: viz. (1) absorption of water, (2) formation of 
new protoplasm and the multiplication of cells, and (3) forma- 
tion of non-protoplasmic cell-products, either within or among 
the cells. 

The rate and character of growth are modified by such ex- 
ternal conditions as temperature, light, quantity and quality 
of the food supply, etc. Growth does not continue indefinitely. 
Its continuance is determined by the relation of the anabolic 
to the katabolic processes in the body. The time comes in the 
life of every complex organism where the income no longer 
equals the outgo, and growth must cease. Later still the wear 
is not made good by the income, and death results. Just what 
causes organisms to cease growing we do not know. 

100. Reproduction and the Reproductive Organs. — Since 
individual organisms are limited both with regard to growth 
and length of life, it is apparent that a given species of animals 
cannot continue, unless some method of originating new in- 
dividuals be found. This production of new individuals by 
the instrumentality of the old is reproduction. In many of 
the lower animals this is merely a growth process, — ''growth be- 
yond the limits of the individual.' ' In the single-celled ani- 
mals reproduction means the separation of the protoplasm into 
two or more masses, by dividing into two equal parts (fission), 
by breaking into a large number of sub-equal portions (spore 
formation), or by budding (Chapter III, §40). In budding 
there is the formation of a local outgrowth which ultimately 
attains the size and character of the parent. In division the 
resulting individuals cannot be distinguished as parent and 
offspring. They are both offspring. Such reproduction, in- 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 75 

volving only one parent is asexual. It usually occurs when the 
adult size of the animal is attained. It is not confined to the 
Protozoa or single-celled animals, but may occur in several In- 
vertebrate groups in which (Hydra, Fig. 81) there is not a high 
degree of specialization. The budded individual or offspring 
may consist of one cell or of many. In addition to the internal 
stimulus afforded by the attainment of normal size, external 
conditions such as diminished food supply, temperature changes, 
etc., influence the process of non-sexual reproduction. 

101. Sexual Reproduction. — There are some evidences that 
even in the one-celled animals the method of reproduction by 
division cannot be continued indefinitely without some ill effects 
to the organism. After a long series of divisions, a period of 
rest or a change of living conditions, or some other stimulus 
seems to be necessary to restore reproduction. In many Pro- 
tozoa there is at certain times a union of two individuals, either 
temporarily or permanently, accompanied by exchange of 
nuclear material or by a fusion of the whole protoplasm. After 
a period of rest and the coming of favorable conditions of life, 
this union seems to renew activity of division. Something sim- 
ilar is seen in the more complex animals — the Metazoa. After 
a period of cell divisions, by which the individual body is built 
up, the majority of cells, as muscle or nerve cells, appear to 
lose their power of dividing, and even the less differentiated 
cells which we have described as the ova and sperm, which 
arise from the primordial germ cells (§49), are ordinarily in- 
capable of continuing the division necessary to produce a new 
individual until they have been stimulated by union with each 
other (or by some artificial means). Such unions of cells, to 
form by later divisions a new individual, are called conjugation 
or fertilization, and the new individual which results is said to 
arise by sexual reproduction. The uniting cells may be similar 
(as in Pandorina), in which case the union is isogamous. More 
usually the cells are different, and the union is heterogamous. 
In the latter case the cells are called ovum and sperm (Chapter 
IV) and are usually formed in different individuals, though 
both classes of cells may arise {hermaphroditism) from different 



76 ZOOLOGY 

regions of the germinative epithelium in one individual, or even 
in the same organ at different times. The special organs in 
which the ova are produced are called ovaries. The sperm cells 
are formed in testes. The individuals (that is, the male and 
female) producing the different classes of cells are often very 
different in other respects also. This is known as sexual dimor- 
phism (Chapter VII, §149). 

In many species of invertebrates, ova are capable of devel- 
opment without fertilization. This is known as parthenogenesis. 

102. Practical Exercises. — Compare the males and females of the various animal 
types with which you are familiar. In what groups of animals does non-sexual 
reproduction occur? Give the gist of Geddes and Thompson's theory as to the 
origin of sexuality. What is the view based on the discoveries of Mendel? Com- 
pare any other theories available to you. What are the conceivable advantages 
and disadvantages of the asexual method? of the sexual? of hermaphroditism? of 
sexual dimorphism ? Find illustrations of parthenogenesis. Why is it to be con- 
sidered sexual? 

103. Movement and the Muscular System. — The desira- 
bility of motion in animals arises from the necessity of seek- 
ing food and of escaping unfavorable influences. These con- 
ditions constitute the most imperious stimuli to which the or- 
ganism is subject. We have already seen (§§20, 24) that the 
fundamental irritability and contractility of protoplasm make 
this response possible in the simplest conditions. In somewhat 
higher forms, specially developed protoplasmic fibrils appear, 
such as cilia, or the fibrils in the stalk of Vorticella, in which 
the power of contracting is strikingly manifest (see Figs. 68 
and 70). While this- is found in Protozoa, it is much more 
clearly shown in the muscular tissue (Fig. 30) of still higher 
animals. Locomotion varies in efficiency in different animals 
not merely on account of varying muscular structure but in 
accordance with the arrangement of the hard parts to which 
the muscle fibres are attached, and the nature of the medium 
which must be penetrated. Many aquatic forms, though free- 
swimming in their early stages, may become attached and give 
up the power of locomotion in the adult condition. Such 
attached or poorly moving forms ordinarily secrete an external 
shell or covering into which they can withdraw for protection 
(e.g., barnacles, many polyps). They must depend upon cur- 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 77 

rents in the water to supply them with food . They are frequently 
able to produce the currents by the motion of parts of the body. 
The majority of active movers have hard parts which serve 
as levers to which the muscles are attached. The parts of the 
skeleton, which may be either external to the muscles or sur- 
rounded by them, articulate with one another by a hinge or 
movable joint, as illustrated by vertebrates or insects. In 
some forms without a conspicuous skeleton, as the earthworm, 
there is a der mo-muscular wall surrounding a fluid-filled cavity. 
Locomotion is effected in these by the alternate use of the 
longitudinal and circular fibres, changing the relative position 
of the parts of the body. The special appendages, particularly 
the paired appendages, are important motor organs in nearly all 
actively moving animals. 

104. Sensation and Sensory Structures. — In a simple bit 
of protoplasm it is manifest that the differences between the 
living matter and the outside world are greater than the struc- 
tural differences between the parts of the protoplasm itself. 
Thus we would expect the stimuli arising from the action of 
environment upon the living material to be among the most 
vivid experienced by the organism, and that the superficial pro- 
toplasm by virtue of its irritability (see also §20) would most 
promptly feel and respond to such stimuli. The changes thus 
instituted will be felt sooner or later to the remotest parts of the 
cell mass. This transfer of the effects of a stimulus through a 
longer or shorter distance introduces us to a second nervous 
function, — internal irritability of protoplasm or conductivity. 

105. As an organism increases in the number and variety 
of its cells, the specialized structures need to be more com- 
pletely bound to one another. It becomes necessary not only 
that the animal receive impulses from such parts as are favor- 
ably situated for the reception of stimuli, but that a degree of 
coordination of the interrelated parts be secured, in order that 
just such response shall be made as will best meet the needs 
of the organism. This power of coordinated response to ex- 
ternal stimuli makes it possible for an organism to become suited 
to its environment. 



78 



ZOOLOGY 



1 06. In the higher forms, the work above described de- 
mands five classes of structures (see Fig. 36) : — (1) end or sense 
organs, which are specially sensitive to stimuli of different orders, 
as mechanical (touch), chemical, ethereal (light), etc.; (2) con- 
ductive tracts (afferent nerves), which connect (1) with (3) cen- 
tral nervous structures (ganglion-cells) where the impulse is re- 
ceived and suitable responsive impulses are originated; (4) con- 
ductive tracts (efferent nerves), which make the work of the 
central organs of value by carrying an impulse which produces 

Fig. 36. 

1 




Fig. 36. Scheme showing the essential relations of the parts of a nervous system: i, the sensory 
end organ (epithelial); 2, afferent nerve tract; 3, central nervous cells (ganglia); 4, efferent nerves 
leading to 5, muscle, gland, etc. g, ganglion cells; gl., gland; m, muscle fibre; «./., nerve fibre; s.e., 
sensory epithelium. 

Questions on the figure. — What seems to be the function of the various parts 
or elements in this scheme? Your reasons for your view? 

corresponding activities in (5), some form of actively related 
cells, — muscular, glandular, or nervous. It is readily apparent 
how increase of volume and differentiation of the other parts will 
make necessary a more complicated nervous system. The spe- 
cial arrangement of these parts of a complete system differs very 
much in various animal groups, yet it may be said that there is 
a progressive accumulation of the central nervous matter at the 
anterior end of the body as we ascend the scale of animal life. 
When this concentration is well advanced the mass of nervous 
matter is called the central nervous system which always includes 
the brain. The nerves passing to and from the central part and 
their endings, taken collectively, are described as the peripheral 
nervous system. 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 



79 



Fig. 37. 




-Jl.*L. 




Zl~"3 



Fig. 37. Diagram showing arrangement of the nervous matter in Starfish, c, ganglionated ring 

about the mouth; o, mouth; r.n., radial nerve in each arm. 

Fig. 38. The nervous system of the Clam, — from the dorsal aspect, a, anterior; 0, mouth; e.g., 

cerebral ganglia (brain); p.g., pedal ganglia; v.g., visceral ganglia. 

Questions on Fig. 37. — Describe in your own terms the way in which the 
principal nerve elements are arranged in the starfish? Compare it with those 
which follow. In what respects similar? In what unlike them? 



Fig. 39. 



Fig. 40. 





Fig. 39. Arrangement of the nervous material in the anterior end of an Oligochete Worm, 
seen in profile. That part of the body wall nearest the observer is supposed to be removed, a, 
anterior; b.w., body wall; g, dorsal ganglia (brain); g\ ventral chain of ganglia; », nerve ring around 
the pharynx; 0, mouth; p, pharynx. 

Fig. 40. The central nervous system in a Leech. Lettering as in Fig. 39. 

Questions on figures 38, 39, and 40. — How is the nervous matter related to the 
digestive tract and to the animal as a whole in all of these figures? Compare with 
figures in other texts. Is there any apparent correlation between the form, 
symmetry or segmentation of the animal and the arrangement of the nervous 
material? Can you state your conclusion as a law? 



80 ZOOLOGY 

107. Arrangement of the Central Nervous System.— The 

ganglion cells composing the nervous system may be so scat- 
tered through the superficial layers as scarcely to deserve the 
name " central" {Hydra). The nerve cells may be arranged 
in a ring about the mouth, or gullet, with or without addi- 
tional bands of nervous tissue, containing cells, passing radially 
from it (as in echinoderms and some ccelenterates ; see Fig. 
37). In the higher invertebrates this process of concentration 
continues and the ganglionic cells are collected into two or more 
ganglia connected by nerve fibres {commissures). Usually 
a pair of ganglia occurs in the region of the mouth, and dorsal 
to it {e.g., clam, Fig. 38). In segmented forms, as the earth- 
worm and crayfish, there is also a series of ganglia connected 
by fibres, ventral to the digestive tract. This chain is in turn 
connected with the dorsal ganglia by a loop of fibres passing 
round the esophagus (Figs. 39 and 40). In vertebrates the cen- 
tral nervous system consists primarily of a tube with thick 
nervous walls — the spinal cord — which may be specially en- 
larged and thickened at the anterior end to produce the brain 
(Fig. 172). From the various parts of this cord the nerves take 
their origin, and run to all parts of the body. 

108. The Peripheral Nervous System: Sense Organs. — 
We know by experimentation that in the lowest animals even, 
or for that matter, in protoplasm, certain external conditions 
produce definite responses or changes. We also know that 
these external happenings and their responses, in our own 
case, are accompanied by certain sensations, as touch or taste. 
By inference, both from the nature of the response and from 
the structure of organs, we reach the conclusion that the lower 
vertebrates and higher invertebrates experience sensations in 
some degree similar to our own. The classes of possible stimuli 
have already been mentioned (§21). Those producing inj us 
definite sensations are: simple contact stimuli, producing the 
sensation of touch and pressure; vibratory contacts, giving_rise 
to hearing and temperature sensations; gravity, giving us^our 
sense of position in respect to the pull of gravity; chemical ac- 
tions, making possible sensations of taste and smell; ethereal 
vibrations, producing the sensation of light. In the lowest 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 8 1 

forms of animals there are no specialized organs for the reception 
of particular stimuli, and in such cases it is reasonable to infer that 
the distinctness of the sensation cannot be very great. In 
almost all animals, however, certain areas are specially suited 
to be stimulated by special stimuli. 

109. Touch. — There are two principal ways by which contact stimuli are 
received among animals. Fibres of the central nervous system may pass to the 
skin and end among its outer layers as free nerve terminations, or these fibres may 
become intimately united with one or more of the cells of the epithelium. The 
most common of the tactile organs in vertebrates are of the first class. Where the 
stimulus reaches the nerve through a nervous epithelium, the epithelial cells often 
have special developments such as hairs, bristles, and the like, whereby the 
possibility of contact with external objects is increased (Fig. 19, A, s). The 
appreciation of changes in temperature is also associated with the general skin 
surface. 

no. Chemical Sense (including taste and smell). — It is impossible for us to 
distinguish between taste and smell in the lower animals. Indeed it is with 
difficulty, in some instances, that we separate the sensations obtained from the two 
sources even in our own case. Almost all animals seem to have some power of 



Fig 



s.c. 




Fig. 41. Statocyst in a Mollusk. n, nerve; o, statolith; s.c, sensory cells in wall of statocyst. 

(After Claus.) 

Questions on the figure. — What immediately stimulates the sensory epithelium 
in this case? What kinds of general agencies might be supposed to produce the 
necessary motion for this purpose? What is the present view of the function of 
statocysts? 

appreciating the chemical condition of the medium in which they live. In aquatic 
animals the chemical sense organs may be distributed over the surface of the 
body. In the higher animals they collect more and more at the anterior or mouth- 
end of the animal, with manifest advantage to the animal. In the higher land 
forms, especially the vertebrates, the organs of the chemical sense come to lie in or 
about the mouth and nose, — the beginnings of the digestive and respiratory tracts 
respectively. These senses are specially related to the testing of food and the 
medium in which the animal lives. For this purpose their position in the mouth 
6 



82 



ZOOLOGY 



and nose is especially favorable. While both smell and taste are aroused by chem- 
ical stimuli, very much less of the substance is necessary to arouse smell than is 
required for taste. Thus smell serves to make the organism aware of slight 
changes in the medium and of distant objects, while taste is a sense of near-by 
objects only. The senses thus far enumerated seem among the earliest developed 
in the animal kingdom. 

in. Hearing and Equilibrium Sense. — It is by no means certain that the lowei 
animals possess the ability to appreciate those vibrations in matter (air, water, 
etc.), which arouse in us the sensation of sound. There are in several groups of 
such animals organs, the structure of which would suggest that they might receive 
vibrations of the medium in which they live. In their simplest condition they 
consist of a sac (otocyst or statocyst) derived from the ectoderm and lined by an 
epithelium containing sensory cells. From these cells sensory hairs extend into 



Fig 




Fig. 42. Antenna of Male Mosquito (Culex pipiens). By J. W. Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare with the antennae of a female (see Fig. 65). 
What are the differences between the head of the male and female mosquitoes? 
What is believed to be the function of these plumose antennas? What are the 
evidences for this view? 

the cavity (Fig. 41). The cavity contains a fluid which may support one or more 
solid particles {statoliths) . With the vibration of the medium the whole would be put 
into vibration, but the inertia of the contained fluid and statoliths would cause the 
latter to strike against the hairs and thus serve as stimuli to the sensory cells. 
Late researches prove, however, that these structures are organs enabling the 
organism to appreciate the pull of gravity and movements in the water rather 
than to hear. In higher forms the ear becomes immensely more complex, but 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 



83 



the general conditions both of origin and structure appear to be much as described 
for the statocysts. That is to say, the final sensory cells are ectodermal in origin, 
but now line a sac deeply imbedded in the tissues of the skull. In some of the 
lower animals, as insects, there are also external vibratile hairs and vibrating 
membranes which are auditory (Fig. 42). 

112. Sight. — There are three distinct facts to be noted with respect to visual 
sensation in the higher forms of animals: the perception of light, the perception of 
color (i.e., light of different wave-frequency) and the formation of images of ex- 
ternal objects. It has already been seen (§21) that protoplasm is sensitive and 
responsive to light without any special organs. The simplest visual organs found 
in multicellular animals consist merely of epithelial cells containing pigment in 




Fig. 43. Diagrams showing some of the stages in the increasing complexity of the simple eye 
in Invertebrates. A, simple pigment spot in epithelium having nerve-endings associated with 
pigment cells (as in some medusae) ; B, pigment cells in a pit-like depression (as in Patella) ; C, with 
pin-hole opening and vitreous humor in cavity (as in Trochus) ; D, completely closed pit, with lens 
and cornea (as in Triton and many other Mollusks); E, pigment area elevated instead of depressed, 
lens of thickened cuticula (as in the Medusa, Lizzia); F, retinal cells more highly magnified, ep., 
epidermis;/, nerve fibre; /, lens; op, optic nerve; p, pigment cells; r, retina; v.h., vitreous humor. 

Questions on the figures. — What changes take place in the sensory epithelium 
in this series of figures? What is gained by such a depression as occurs in B? 
What purpose is served by the pinhole and the vitreous humor of C? Describe 
the change from C to Z). What is gained? What may be the function of the 
pigment? Compare texts. In what respects does E differ from the other types? 
What two types of cells are figured as belonging to each retina? What constitutes 
the retina? 

which changes are wrought apparently by the action of light (Fig. 43, a). These 
changes affect the nerve fibres associated with the pigment cells and thus the 
central nervous organ. Such eyes are capable only of giving knowledge of the 
intensity or, if properly constructed, of intensity and direction of the light and do 
not form an image of external objects. There are several types of image-forming 



8 4 



ZOOLOGY 



eyes in the animal kingdom. The most familiar of these is the "camera eye" of 
vertebrates, so called because it illustrates the principles made use of in the 
construction of the photographic camera. In this there is a lens or body which 
refracts the rays of light in such a way that all the rays passing from a point of the 

object are brought to a focus at a point on the retina (Fig. 43, D). Another type 
of image-forming eye is the compound eye of insects and Crustacea (Fig. 44). 
These are made up of a large number of eye^elements — each structurally complete 
in itself — whose separately formed images must nevertheless be joined in order to 
form a picture. 

Fig. 44. 

B 





'- £ A 



Fig. 44. Diagram illustrating the compound eye of arthropods. A, the whole eye shown in 
section; B, one of the eye-elements (ommatidium) more highly magnified, c, cuticular facets; ep, 
epidermis; I, group of cells forming lens-like body; n, optic nerve fibres; 0, optic ganglia; p, pigment 
cells. 

Questions on the figures. — In what way is the independence of each ommatidium 
secured? In other words what is to prevent the light which comes in obliquely 
from passing from one ommatidium to another? In what conceivable way is a 
general image obtained from these various partial views? What groups of animals 
possess eyes of this sort? Compare the diagram B with the figure of the complete 
ommatidium of the lobster (Fig. 127). 

The degree to which the color-sense is developed among lower animals is very 
uncertain. The simplest animals may respond differently to light of different 
colors, but this is a very different thing from saying that they possess the color- 
sense in the meaning that we give to the word. 

To summarize, — the essential part of the eye is the sensitive layer known as the 
retina. The other parts of the complex eye-structure serve the purposes of shutting 
out the light except from certain directions; of focusing the light admitted in such a 
way as to increase its intensity and form an image on the retina; of adjusting this 
apparatus to objects at different distances; of nourishing and supporting the more 
important portions of the apparatus; and of moving the eye so as to take into view 
different portions of the surroundings. Some of the various grades of complexity 
of eye-structure in the invertebrate series beginning with a pigment spot and 
ending with a complete lens-eye, are shown in Fig. 43. 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 



85 



113. Analogy and Homology. — In comparing various ani- 
mals we find that they may do the same work with organs that 
arise in very different ways, which, however, because they are 
adapted to perform similar tasks, look somewhat alike. Such 
structures are said to be analogous (as the wing of a bird and the 
wing of a butterfly). In other cases organs that originate in 
the same way may have been used so differently as to have a 
very different appearance, as the various "legs" of the crayfish, 
or the wing of a bird and the arm of man. These, notwithstand- 
ing their superficial differences, are said to be homologous because 
of the fundamental equivalency of origin and structure. 

Fig. 45. 




Fig. 45. Diagrams illustrating two stages in the development of the vertebrate eye. A, 
showing the relation of the ectoderm, the brain vesicle, and the optic vesicle. The right side of the 
figure shows a later stage than the left. B, later stage, showing the lens, eye-ball and retina in 
position, b.v., brain vesicle formed by the invagination of the ectoderm (ect.)\ I, lens; mes., meso- 
dermal tissue; o.n., optic nerve; o.s., optic stalk; o.v., optic vesicle, a portion of the brain vesicle; 
r, retinal layer; v.h., interior of eye-ball which comes to contain the vitreous humor. 

Questions on the figures. — Which portions of the eye are derived directly from 
the ectoderm? Which indirectly, i.e., from the brain? Which portions seem of 
mesodermal origin? By following the invagination by which the retina is formed 
do you find any suggestion of an explanation of the fact that the sensitive portion 
of the retina (rods and cones, Fig. 175) is directed away from the light? Refer to 
some work on the embryology of the vertebrates for more complete series of figures. 



114. Differentiation and Reintegration of Parts. — The chap- 
ter thus far should have given the student a fair appreciation 
of the degree to which the work of a complex organism is divided 
up among the organs and of the differences found in the organs 
themselves because of this. We all know that this differentia- 
tion makes for efficiency. There are two sides to this, however. 



86 ZOOLOGY 

In becoming suited to doing one kind of work the cells cease to 
be able to do other kinds. The various cells thus become mutu- 
ally dependent. Unless they can be brought to work together 
suitably there will not be efficiency. Division of labor is only 
one-half of efficiency. There must also be a reintegration of 
these special parts into a higher kind of oneness. It is this that 
determines the state of the individual made up of these special- 
ized parts. There are three phases of this reintegration. 

a. Physical Reintegration. — This is done by the cement be- 
tween cells, by the connective tissues, the skin, the skeleton, 
and similar tissues. When the fertilized egg first divided, this 
cement held the cells together. It is only in this way that a 
multicellular animal could arise. In the mature body the bil- 
lions of cells are further bound together by these connecting tis-" 
sues into a physical unity that makes it possible that they work 
together as they could not do if they were not united into one 
body. 

b. Nutritive Reintegration. — This physical bond would mean 
little but for a deeper one. In the differentiation of the cells, 
while all must have food and oxygen and all produce wastes 
which they must get rid of, the various cells of the body do differ- 
ent things. They have somewhat different needs and produce 
different kinds of waste products. Some cells absorb the foods 
for all; others absorb oxygen. Some eliminate carbon dioxid 
from the system; others eliminate the urea and other wastes 
for all the cells; still others manufacture substances which are 
of further use in the general work of the body. It follows there- 
fore that all these cells must be connected in a chemical or 
nutritive way. This is done by the body fluids, including 
chiefly the blood and lymph. 

In addition to the work of lungs, digestive epithelium, the 
skin, and the kidneys referred to above, with which all the active 
cells of the body must be connected in this chemical interchange 
— the liver, the spleen, the sex glands, the thyroid, the adrenals 
and other groups of cells take from or add to the blood sub- 
stances that vitally change it. Very often these special sub- 
stances poured into the blood by particular organs, as the testes 
or the thyroid, will be carried all over the body by the blood and 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 87 

will produce profound effects on the well-being of other groups of 
cells far removed from them. For example, products of the 
sex and other glands get into the blood and produce growth in 
the voice box and vocal cords in man and in fact all the outward 
differences in the bodies of males and females. If the thyroid 
is diseased or removed, so that its product is no longer poured 
into the blood, profound changes take place in certain other 
structures in wholly different parts of the body. If the healthy 
thyroid tissue of another individual is grafted at any point in 
the body of such a diseased individual the latter will become 
normal again. These various organs secrete substances (hor- 
mones or endocrines) into the blood which control activity else- 
where. The proper balance of these chemical substances goes 
far to coordinate and make normal the various human functions 
and development. 

Indeed we are coming more and more to understand that 
every cell in the body changes the blood in some degree for all 
the other cells of the body. It takes from the blood as it passes, 
and at the same time pours out into the blood the by-products 
of its own living. For example, we know that overwork causes 
fatigue products to be poured into the blood with profound 
effects upon the animal. These substances may even be in- 
jected into the blood of a rested animal and bring about symp- 
toms of fatigue. We must think of the blood as more than just 
a means of connecting lungs and intestine and kidneys with one 
another and with the general system. The life of every cell in 
the body is conditioned by the make-up of this medium whose 
composition is determined by every cell in the body. We are 
just beginning to appreciate its full meaning ; but we know that 
this chemical integration of the body is profoundly important. 

c. The Coordinating Reintegration. — In addition to the phys- 
ical and chemical unity, the parts of the body must work in 
harmony and instantly. When food is eaten the digestive 
glands must become active. When the body exercises the oxy- 
gen supply must become more rapid. When an organ acts it 
must have an increased blood supply. When we undertake to 
walk, scores of muscles must contract just enough and in the 
right relation to other muscles. When external conditions 



88 ZOOLOGY 

stimulate we must be able to do the right thing. This harmony 
of operation among the parts is coordination. Harmony be- 
tween the action of the organism and the outside conditions is 
adaptation. The nervous system reintegrates these numerous 
diverse units of which we are made, and makes them work 
together. All the active cells of the body are connected by 
way of the nervous elements. A part of the work of the hor- 
mones is also of this higher coordinating value. It has been 
found by experiment that the pancreas, for example, is brought 
to secrete at the proper time by substances in the blood absorbed 
from the digestive tract rather than through nervous action 
purely, as we formerly thought. The hormones and the nerv- 
ous system thus work together for active integration ; but in 
general the nervous system operates more immediately than 
the chemical system. 

115. Summary. 

1. Division of labor and differentiation of structure proceed 
together as the individual develops. All tissues retain the 
power of using food, of oxidation, of eliminating useless prod- 
ucts. Other functions incidental to these may be relegated to 
special cells or tissues. 

2. Associations of tissues to accomplish a more or less definite 
work are called organs. Organs of a similar kind are collectively 
known as systems of organs. 

3. The principal functions of animals and the organs or 
systems performing the work may be classed as follows : 

Function System 

(a) Metabolism Nutritive. 

(b) Support and protection . . . Skeletal, and integumentary. 

(c) Growth 

(d) Reproduction Reproductive. 

(e) Motion Muscular, in connection with 

skeletal. 
(/) Sensation Nervous, including sensory epi- 
thelium. 

4. Metabolism or nutrition embraces the following processes: 
(a) Ingestion of food (including oxygen), 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 89 

(b) Digestion, 

(c) Absorption (from the digestive tract, and at every other 
cell wall), 

(d) Circulation, 

(e) Assimilation = anabolism, 

(/) Dissimilation = katabolism (including respiration), 
(g) Secretion and excretion (of waste matter including carbon 
dioxid) . 
The processes in (a), (b), (c), and (e) are anabolic, i.e., add 
to the resources of the body. Those in (/) and (g) are katabolic, 
i.e., tend to destroy the materials, develop energy, and eliminate 
waste. Circulation contributes to the accomplishment of both 
purposes. 

5. The supportive skeletal structures may be internal, or 
external, or both. They may arise as a secretion of the super- 
ficial cells of the body, or consist of a mixture of cells and in- 
ter-cellular substance. Their nature and arrangement are 
profoundly important in determining the distribution of the 
other more active organs. 

6. Growth and reproduction are the outcome of the nutri- 
tive processes. Growth is increase in mass; reproduction is the 
production of new individuals from old. Reproduction always 
involves division of a cell (or an organism) and may be asexual 
or sexual. The latter typically involves two parents. In it 
two cells, which may be either similar or dissimilar, must unite 
before development will proceed. In parthenogenesis, only the 
female parent is necessary. 

7. The nervous and muscular systems are closely related 
in function. Their united work is to receive, coordinate and 
respond to the external or internal stimuli affecting the animal. 
The structures to receive stimuli (end organs) are largely super- 
ficial; the coordinating and controlling parts (central organ) are 
deep-seated, thereby securing protection and a central position; 
the muscular system must have definite relations with the hard 
parts upon which it acts. Thus arises the necessity of connec- 
tives or nerves between the various portions. 

8. The sense organs represent areas of the epithelium which 
are peculiarly adapted to the reception of some one of the forms 



90 ZOOLOGY 

of stimulus to which animals are subject, supplemented by a 
more or less complex apparatus which serves to intensify or 
modify the original stimulus. The sense organ determines the 
kind of stimulus which may be received, but the central nervous 
organ determines the nature of the sensation which results, and 
the response. 

9. If cells and organs become differentiated, and specialized 
in the division of labor, it becomes doubly essential that they be 
brought together again in a complete unity if there is to be an 
efficient individual. This reintegration of diverse parts is (1) 
physical, by means of connective and supportive tissues; (2) 
chemical and nutritive, by means of secretions into the blood 
and lymph; and (3) cooperative, by means of the nervous system. 

10. Organs with different origin which by reason of similar 
function have come to look alike are said to be analogous. 
Organs with similar origin and structure are homologous. They 
are so called even though, because of their differing functions, 
they are very different in appearance. 

116. Topics for Investigation, in Library and Field. 

1. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of divi- 
sion of labor and differentiation? Illustrate your views very 
fully. 

2. Illustrate the variety of foods used by different animals 
with which you are acquainted. Classify the animals you know 
on the basis of their food preferences. 

3. Compare the ways in which animals known to you cap- 
ture and prepare their food for swallowing. What special 
structures arise in connection with this function ? 

4. Do animals have any power of storing food within the 
body for future use ? Compare with plants. 

5. Compare gills and lungs as to general form and arrange- 
ment and see in what ways they appear to you to be suited to 
their particular media, i.e., gills to water and lungs to the air. 
Why might not the conditions be reversed ? 

6. What seem to you to be the comparative advantages and 
disadvantages of the exoskeleton and endoskeleton. 

7. Devices to accomplish locomotion in animals known to the 
student. Find as many variations as possible. 



THE GENERAL ANIMAL FUNCTIONS 9 1 

8. Select four animals, as diverse as possible, representing 
each of the following conditions of locomotion : — through the air, 
through the water, on the earth, and through the soil. Compare 
the problems which each must solve, and the organs by which 
the work is accomplished. 

9. Compare known animals as to rate of locomotion. Do 
you find a satisfactory explanation in any case ? 

10. Let the student attempt to prove that the dog experi- 
ences the same sensations which we have. Hold yourself rigidly 
to your evidence. , 

11. Report on the general differences between the eyes of 
insects and of vertebrates, with a statement of their structure 
and the work done by each. 

12. In what way could the statocysts possibly act as organs 
to enable the animal to appreciate its position in space, and thus 
maintain its equilibrium ? 

13. What are the simpler facts connected with the process 
of absorption or osmosis of dissolved substances in the body ? 

14. Find in text-books of chemistry a fuller account of the 
process of oxidation and why it results in a liberation of energy. 

15. Demonstrate how a biconvex lens forms an image of 
objects. Why inverted ? 

16. Discover what glands are known to produce internal 
secretions (hormones). Where are these located? What, in 
general, are the effects of each of these secretions ? 



CHAPTER VII 

PROMORPHOLOGY 

117. We have seen in the preceding chapters how the work which an organism 
must do is divided among its parts, and that the parts become specialized in con- 
nection with this division of labor. This complexity which is known as organiza- 
tion is, in any animal, the result of forces both within and without the animal, and 
expresses the adaptation of the internal structures to each other and to external 
conditions. The simplest organism known is thus organized. Organization is 
merely more evident in the more complex organism. In addition to the fact of 
the organization and heterogeneity of structure it is easy to see, after examining a 
number of animals, that these different parts are not thrown together without 
some definite order. For example, most vertebrates move with their long axis 
horizontal, and possess certain organs that we always expect to see at the anterior 
end; their appendages are arranged in a definite way in relation to the long axis. 
The parts of the starfish are arranged according to a different but equally definite 
plan. All consideration of the general plan according to which animals are con- 
structed may be called Promorphology. The fundamental plan may be similar in 
groups of animals which are otherwise very different, because of similar external 
conditions and similar modes of life. 

118. Definition of Sections. — In trying to express the plan of structure in 
animals it is convenient to have in mind certain planes to which we can refer the 
parts. A section perpendicular to the main axis of an organism or of an organ is 
called a transverse or cross section. The longitudinal median section separating 
the body into right and left halves is a sagittal section. A longitudinal section, 
perpendicular to the sagittal and separating the dorsal (or back) and ventral (or 
belly) portions of the body is described as a frontal section. An animal is said to 
be symmetrical with regard to any of these planes when the parts severed by the 
plane are essentially similar. 

119. Axiality. — As an organism grows from its small beginnings in the fertilized 
ovum, or from a spore in the simpler forms, the new materials may be added more 
or less uniformly so that a mere increase in size results; or growth may take place 
more rapidly along some radii than along others, making the organism depart 
from its original spherical form; or materials or organs of one kind may occur along 
one radius and different ones on another (as in Fig. 48). These lines of special 
growth and development are called axes. We may investigate them as to their 
number, their space-relations to each other, and the likeness or unlikeness of the 
two ends or poles of each axis. 

120. Types of Symmetry. — It is desirable to distinguish the following types: 
1. In a spherical organism in which no differentiation is apparent (as in a 

simple spherical cell, or blastula, Figs. 13 A, 3; 46) any plane passing through 
the centre divides it into symmetrical parts and all the axes or diameters are 

92 



PROMORPHOLOGY 



93 



essentially equal. In such a case there may be said to be an infinite number of 
similar axes, and the poles of each axis are similar. This may be described as 
universal symmetry. 



Fig. 46. 




Fig. 47. 




Fig. 46. Spherical cell (resting stage of Amoeba) illustrating general or universal symmetry. 

Any plane passing through the centre will divide it into two essentially equal portions. 

Fig. 47. Amoeba in active condition. Entirely unsymmetrical. 

Question on the figure. 

of uniyersal symmetry? 



-What prevents this animal being a perfect illustration 



Fig. 48. 




Fig. 48. Actinomma aster acanthion, a Radiolarian with a limited number of specialized radii 
(axes), symmetrically arranged about the centre. A, whole animal with portion of two spheres of 
shell removed. B, section, showing relation of the protoplasm to the skeleton, n, nucleus; p, 
protoplasm; sk., skeleton. From Parker and Haswell. 

Questions on the figures. — In what way does this species differ in symmetry 
from Fig. 46? How many specially developed axes appear to be present? By 
how many planes may the organism be divided into essentially equal portions? 

2. An organism may be wholly asymmetrical, without any definite form, the 
axes being without regular arrangement. {Amoeba in its active stages, Fig. 47; 
some Sponges.) In other instances the form may be definite and axes developed; 



94 ZOOLOGY 

but the structure is such that no plane will separate the animal into symmetrical 
parts (Paramecium and many other active Protozoa; see Figs. 68-71). 

3. As a variation of the universally symmetrical condition seen in 1, a limited 
number of axes may become distinguishable from the others by some specialization 
of structure (Fig. 48). These special axes are similar and their two poles are alike. 

4. Starting again from the' undifferentiated spherical form, one of its numerous 
similar axes may come to differ from all those perpendicular to it by increased or 
diminished length, or by a difference in construction. This special axis is to be 
known as the principal axis. The poles of the principal axis do not usually remain 
alike. Perpendicular to this principal axis one may select an indefinite number of 
subordinate axes which are essentially similar to one another. The poles of each 
subordinate axis are alike. Such a condition is realized in the simplest gastrulae 
(Fig. 13; A 4, B 3, C 2). Any plane which includes the principal axis will divide 
such an organism into two equal halves. In general external appearance a hen's 
egg would illustrate the type. This is the least differentiated form of what is 
known as radial symmetry. 

Two important variations from this simple condition of radial symmetry are 
found among animals. 



Fig. 




a 1 



b 1 

Fig. 49. Diagram of Medusa, illustrating radial symmetry. A, viewed from the oral end of 
the principal axis; B, a section along the principal axis and through one of the subordinate axes, aa*: 
0, ab. o, the oral and aboral poles of the principal axis; a, a\ and b, b\ the similar poles of the two 
chief subordinate axes. 

Questions on the figures. — Are the poles of the oral-aboral axis alike or unlike? 
How many clearly differentiated secondary axes are there? What would be the 
appearance of a section midway between aa 1 and bb 1 ? Would the resulting halves 
be symmetrical? Compare this condition with the definition of radial symmetry 
in the text. Find other illustrations of radial symmetry in the figures of this 
book. 

(a) Special organs, such as those of locomotion and the like, may be developed 
about the principal axis. These usually come to be arranged in a limited number 
of the planes which may be passed through the principal axis. Considered from 
the point of view of the subordinate axes this means that there are a limited number 
of special axes (Fig. 49, aa 1 and bb 1 ) perpendicular to the principal axis (Fig. 49, 



PROMORPHOLOGY 



95 



o-ab.o) instead of an indefinite number as in the former case. These special sub- 
ordinate axes are usually 3, 4, or 5, or some multiple of these numbers. The num- 
ber however may be reduced to two in which the four poles are all alike. Many of 
the medusae, coral polyps, and some echinoderms illustrate this type of symmetry. 
(&) A further variation of (a) is seen in the fact that in some animals, otherwise 
similar to those described in (a), one of these special axes perpendicular to the 
principal axis comes to differ from the other. The two poles of each of the sub- 
ordinate axes are essentially alike, but are unlike the poles of the other subordinate 

Fig. 50. 





ab. 0. 

Fig. so. Diagram of the sea-anemone, illustrating another type of radial symmetry. A, 
cross section; B, longitudinal section. Lettering as in Fig. 49. c, the chamber between the mes- 
enteries (m). 

Questions on the figures. — How does the symmetry of the anemone compare 
with that of the Medusa? Express the difference clearly in terms of the axes and 
their poles. Are aa 1 and bb 1 strictly similar axes? Do their planes divide the 
animal into halves? Are the four halves thus obtained equivalent? In B what 
difference in the position of the section will account for the differences on the right 
and left side of the figure ? 



axis. This arrangement is found in the sea-anemone (Fig. 50). The differences 
between aa 1 and bb 1 are not usually so great that we cease to speak of the form as 
radially symmetrical. It is of importance to know that in the radially symmetri- 
cal animals the principal axis, whether longer or shorter than the subordinate 
axes, is normally perpendicular to the substratum on which the animal rests, or to 
which it is attached. 

5. If such an animal as was last described were to have its principal axis 
horizontally placed, with one of its two subordinate axes vertical and the other 



9 6 



ZOOLOGY 



horizontal, and were maintained in this position, it would likely happen that the 
formerly similar poles of the new vertical axis would become unlike, because 
subjected to different influences. These poles are known as the dorsal and ventral 
poles. The poles {right and left) of the other transverse or subordinate axis would 
remain similar, as they are subjected in the long run to similar conditions. This 
gives us the condition, found in all the higher, free-moving animals, known as 
bilateral symmetry. It consists, to recapitulate, of (i) a main axis {antero-posterior 

Fig. 51. 




Fig. 51. Diagram of the cross section of a fish, showing the bilateral symmetry of the parts: 
dv, dorsoventral axis; rl, right-left axis. a. p., paired appendage; b.c, body cavity; ch, notochord; 
d.f., dorsal fin; g, gut; h, heart; h.a., haemal arch; m, muscles; n.a., neural arch; sp, spinal cord; v.c, 
vertebral column. 

Questions on the figure. — In what respects is the symmetry as shown in this 
cross section different from that shown in the cross section of sea-anemone? Com- 
pare carefully, and express your conclusions in terms of the axes and their poles. 
Find other figures in this book illustrating bilateral symmetry. 

axis) usually horizontal and with dissimilar poles; (2) a transverse axis, usually 
vertical {dor so-ventral axis) with dissimilar poles; and (3) a transverse axis perpen- 
dicular to the other two, horizontally placed, with poles alike {right-left axis). 
Such an animal has only one plane (the sagittal) by which it may be divided into 
symmetrical halves (Figs. 51, 31, 101). 



PROMORPHOLOGY 97 

121. Antimeres. — There is a striking tendency among organisms to repeat or 
duplicate organs or parts. This we have seen in the occurrence of similar rays 
about the main axis, in radially symmetrical animals like the starfish. Parts thus 
repeated are known as antimeres. The term is also applied to the right and left or 
paired halves of bilaterally symmetrical animals. 

122. Metameres. — When the parts or organs are repeated in a linear sequence 
along the main axis, as the segments or rings of the Earthworm, the arrangement 
is described as segmental or metameric. Metamerism may be shown both by the 
internal and external structures. The vast majority of the elongated, bilaterally 
symmetrical animals are segmented. In the higher Vertebrates it is not manifest 
externally, but is shown in the vertebrae, the nerves, etc. 

123. Appendages. — Nearly all the animals, whatever the fundamental sym- 
metry may be, have appendages of one kind or another for locomotion, capture of 
food, protection, respiration, and the like. These outgrowths from the body may 
be generally distributed over the body surface (as cilia in some Protozoa and free- 
swimming larvae) ; or radially arranged, — often about the mouth, as in many radi- 
ally symmetrical animals (Figs. 49, 50, 81) ; or in a right and left series in bilaterally 
symmetrical animals (Figs. 131, 137, 191). The paired appendages of bilateral 
animals may be attached dorsally, laterally, or ventrally, as determined by the 
uses they serve. They may be uniformly distributed along the axis, one or more 
pairs to each metamere, as in some arthropods, or be confined to special segments in 
certain regions of the body, as in the higher arthropods and the vertebrates. 

124. Practical Exercises. — Let the student find illustrations, from the animals 
with which he is acquainted, of paired appendages with dorsal attachment; with 
lateral; with ventral. What is the work to be done by each? Does their position 
appear to be of advantage in the performance of it? Find likewise animals in 
which the appendages are clustered at the anterior portion of the body; some in 
which only posterior appendages are found, or at least are better developed than 
the anterior. Does the arrangement seem in any way related to the habits and 
surroundings of the animal? 

125. Specialization of Metameres. — In the lowest segmented animals, as the 
simpler worms, the metameres are much alike in external form, in their appendages, 
and in the contained structures. In the adult insects this becomes less true, and 
the various segments are specialized for particular duties. The segments in the 
head region become very different from the body segments. The same is even 
more true of the higher vertebrates. This progressive differentiation of a distinct 
head is one of the most remarkable facts to be noted in animal development. 
Accompanying the specialization of groups of segments in various parts of the 
body we often see the complete fusion of such similar segments for the better per- 
formance of their common work (as in the head of insects and vertebrates and in 
the thorax of insects and Crustacea). 

126. Formation of New Segments and Regeneration. — In many of the animals 
in which the segments seem of nearly equal value there is a more or less continuous 
formation of new segments. * By this process the organism increases in length and 
in the number of its segments, and frequently, with the aid of a somewhat similar 
process, produces two individuals by division, as in many worms. Such a pro- 
ceeding necessitates the formation of a new head or tail in each of the daughters. 

7 



98 ZOOLOGY 

by a segment which, in the mother/ was a body segment. N When such an animal 
is artificially cut in two, each half may reproduce segments like those which have 
been removed from it. This is known as regeneration. Naturally this ceases to be 
possible in animals in which the segments become more highly specialized; yet 
even in the highest animals some power of replacing lost tissue or even lost organs 
remains (as in healing of wounds, formation of a new tail by lizards, etc.). It is 
recognized as a general law that in making these repairs or healings the newly 
formed material tends to restore the symmetry possessed at the outset. 

127. Summary. — 

1. Promorphology treats of the ground plan in accordance with which the parts 
of animals are combined. 

2. Symmetry relates to the possibility of passing one or more planes through 
the animal and obtaining similar portions on either side of these planes. 

3. If no such division is possible the organism is described as without symmetry. 
If each of three mutually perpendicular planes separates the animal into equivalent 
portions, it may be described as universally symmetrical. If no plane transverse 
to the main axis can divide the animal into symmetrical parts, and two or more, 
which split the animal along the main axis, are capable of doing so, we describe the 
form as radially symmetrical. When there is only one such plane capable of 
separating the body into equal parts we have the condition of bilateral symmetry, 
which represents the highest condition of development, that of active animals. 

4. Antimeres are parts of animals repeated on different sides (two or more) of 
the main axis of the body. 

5. Metameres are parts repeated in the main axis, i.e., one behind another. 
The successive metameres may be almost entirely alike (homonomous) , or they may 
become much differentiated in the performance of diverse functions (heteronomous) . 

6. From the main trunk of animals special appendages often appear. They 
usually adapt themselves to, and accentuate, the fundamental symmetry of the 
organism. They may therefore be asymmetrically placed, or uniformly distributed 
over the entire surface, or along the radii, or in pairs as in the bilaterally sym- 
metrical forms. There are typically one or more pairs to each metamere, though 
this number may be much reduced. Paired appendages, in series, are regarded as 
homologous. 

7. Many animals have the power of restoring by growth parts or segments 
which have been lost (regeneration). In the lower segmented forms this power 
is closely associated with the power of increasing the number of new segments in 
an uninjured animal. In heteronomously segmented animals both these powers 
are less manifest. 

128. Topics for Investigation. 

1. Determine the nature and degree of symmetry in (1) the sponge of com- 
merce; (2) skeleton of starfish; (3) crayfish or grasshopper. 

2. What is the final criterion by which you determine which is the anterior and 
which the posterior end of an animal? Justify. 

3. Find among animals of your acquaintance instances of difference between 
the dorsal and ventral surfaces as to color, form, etc., and see if you can discover 
any possible advantage resulting therefrom. 

4. What degree of difference have you ever noticed between the right and left 
halves of the body in various animals. Is perfect bilateral symmetry ever found ? 



PROMOEPHOLOGY 99 

5. Can you assign any reason for the location of the sense organs at the anterior 
end of the body? In a given individual? In the race to which the individual 
belongs? (Distinguish between cause and advantage). Do you think they occur 
here because it is anterior, or is it anterior because they occur here? 

6. Why are vehicles (made by man) bilaterally symmetrical? 

7. Express in tabular form the differences between the poles of the three axes 
of bilateral animals, and what you can gather as to the causes of the differences. 

8. For what kind of life does bilateral symmetry fit the animal? 

9. For what kind of life does radial symmetry seem suited ? Verify by illustra- 
tions. 

10. To what extent do animals seem able to regenerate lost parts? Trace 
out the conditions in various groups, as far as your reference library will allow. 

11. Is there any apparent limits to the numbers of metameres which animals 
may possess? What degree of constancy or variability in this particular can you 
discover in various individuals of the same species? 



CHAPTER VIII 

DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 

129. The Individual and its Environment. — We have thus 
far considered the mature individual as the end for which the 
various developmental processes exist. It has been seen that 
the individual becomes complex as its parts grow and become 
differentiated to do the work necessary to the well-being of the 
animal. In this differentiation the parts become dependent 
upon each other, and in the healthy state they work harmo- 
niously among themselves. It is now necessary to pass from the 
consideration of these internal structures and relations in order 
to consider the individual animal as a unit in its relations to 
everything about it, that is, to its environment. This term 
includes not merely the inanimate materials and conditions 
surrounding an organism, but in addition all living things both 
plant and animal which directly or indirectly influence it. The 
environment of no two animals is the same, nor is it the same for 
any given animal for two moments in succession. This con- 
tinual change in the environment leaves its impress on the struc- 
ture and habits of all organisms. Every individual is thus re- 
lated to its own environment from day to day; in addition to 
this, all the individuals of any generation, owing to the facts of 
reproduction and inheritance, are also to be considered in the 
light of the conditions to which their parents have been sub- 
jected from the remotest time. The study of the individual in 
its relations to its environment (ecology) brings the student 
face to face with many very important problems. No depart- 
ment of zoology is more interesting. 

130. Heredity. — One does not study organisms very long 
without being impressed with two things: first, that there are 
remarkable similarities among them, even among those little 
related; and second, that there are interesting differences among 

100 . 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION IOI 

even those whose kinship would entitle them to be much alike. 
There is always a disposition among students to feel that the 
likenesses are due to internal causes and that the unlikenesses are 
due in some way to the varying external influences. In other 
words the former are thought to be due to heredity and the latter 
to the environment. 

Characteristics which animals receive from the reproductive 
cells _from which they arise are described as hereditary. This 
is equally true whether the reproduction is sexual or asexual, 
by means of one cell or two. We ascribe the fact that the 
fertilized hen's egg produces a fowl and a frog's egg a frog to 
the action of heredity. No less is the repetition in the child of 
minute parental peculiarities of feature and form a fact of 
inheritance. While these likenesses are due to the action of the 
internal forces of heredity , it must not be deemed that heredity 
is a purely conservative influence in the life of the organism. 
The offspring of two parents may inherit from their parents 
very different qualities and thus present striking variations 
among themselves due solely to inheritance. The offspring 
may also present such a mingling of the qualities inherited by 
way of their ancestors as to possess characteristics decidedly 
new to any of them. Indeed offspring may inherit features 
which neither of their parents shows. Thus likeness to parents 
and unlikeness to parents may equally be due to heredity. It 
at once perpetuates old qualities and introduces variations from 
these. 

It was formerly considered that all the characteristics which 
parents possess are equally subject to inheritance, but it is now 
denied by many biologists that the qualities which a parent 
acquires in its own lifetime, as the result of its own actions or of 
the environment, are capable of being transmitted. In the 
light of what was said about the parallel development of pri- 
mordial germ cells and body cells (§49), this is just another way 
of saying that changes that come to the body cells may not be 
passed on specifically to the germ cells so that these will later 
give rise to the same sort of new qualities in the body cells 
which in turn arise from them. These statements do not mean 
that the condition of the body may not modify the character 



102 ZOOLOGY 

of the germ cells which are housed in that body. Nor do they 
mean that the environment may not operate to change germ 
plasm. They only mean that we have no sufficient evidence 
for believing that we can change germ plasm in a specific way 
by changing the body of the parent in that particular way. 
For example, training parents in speaking English or in playing 
the piano apparently does not in any degree make either of 
these performances easier for their children. It is unquestioned, 
however, that qualities received by inheritance from the pre- 
ceding generations are, under favoring circumstances, capable 
of being transmitted to the following generations. Whether 
they are actually so transmitted depends upon the circum- 
stances. Chapter XXVI discusses some of these circumstances. 

131. The Bearers of Heredity. — It follows from the fact 
that the adult organism is produced from one or more reproduc- 
tive cells that these cells are in some way endowed to carry the 
hereditary qualities. These cells are all that pass from the old 
generation to the new. There are strong evidences that the 
chromatin elements, or chromosomes, in the nuclei of the sperm 
cells and ova are the most important material structures by 
means of which transmission is effected. The chromosomes of 
the fertilized ovum are contributed equally by the male and 
female cells, and they are the only structures in the sperm and 
ovum which are apparently equal in amount. This, taken in 
connection with the fact that one parent does not seem, on the 
average, to have any more power than the other to influence 
offspring, furnishes a basis for the belief that the chromosomes 
are the physical basis of heredity. 

Some students of the subject believe that the cytoplasm is, 
equally with the chromosomes, a carrier of hereditary qualities. 
They think that cytoplasm is responsible for those qualities 
that both sexes have in common. That is, the cytoplasm con- 
serves the common characters of the species. The chromo- 
somes are held to be more responsible for those qualities in 
which the individuals of a species differ, as sex, size, color, 
vitality, etc. Recent investigations show that the paternal and 
maternal chromosomes tend to retain their distinctness and to 
be equally distributed to all the nuclei of the developing embryo. 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION IO3 

132. Library Exercises. — The student may increase his knowledge of the facts 
of heredity by endeavoring to find answers to the following questions. What is 
atavism, and what explanations have been offered for it? Do the male and female 
seem, as a rule, to have equal power of transmitting their individual characteristics? 
Cite some facts tending to show that the nucleus is especially concerned in trans- 
mitting parental qualities; that the chromosomes are instrumental therein. What 
are the essential features of the old " perf ormation " hypothesis to account for the 
fact that an adult similar to the parent springs from an egg ? Examine some of 
the principal theories of inheritance: Darwin's "pangenesis;" Brooks' modifica- 
tion of it; Weismann's "continuity of germ-plasm," etc. State Mendel's laws of 
inheritance? What did Galton, De Vries, and Johanssen contribute to the 
subject? 

133. Variability. — Notwithstanding the fundamental like- 
ness existing between parent and offspring, and among the off- 
spring of common parents, no two individuals even among the 
lowest animals are exactly alike. While members of the same 
species agree more than they differ, the fact of variation is less 
fundamental only than the fact of likeness. Variation among 
animals appears to depend upon two sets of considerations: 

(1) the physical and chemical instability and changeableness of 
the protoplasm of which animals are so largely composed, and 

(2) the diversity and stimulating effect of the environment in 
the broadest sense. Through the interaction of these two influ- 
ences, even if all individuals were alike at the start, it would 
only be a question of time until the offspring derived from them 
would present noteworthy differences. Such differences would 
tend to increase with the lapse of time. This is the more true 
in proportion to the degree in which variations are capable of 
being transmitted under the influence of heredity. So far as 
we can tell organisms may vary to any amount if we give time 
enough. 

134. The Part Played by the Environment in Producing 
Variation while not completely understood must be recognized 
as very real. Even though much stress must be put upon the 
hereditary complexity and instability of protoplasm as the 
source of variations, it is evident that the external conditions 
serve as stimuli to produce the changes on the inside. For 
example, it is a matter of common observation that the quantity 
and quality of food greatly influence not merely the rate of 



104 ZOOLOGY 

growth of the body but the size and quality of the adult organ- 
ism as well. Life would be impossible without food, oxygen, 
water and suitable temperature. Any variation in these con- 
ditions at once has its effect upon the organism. Experiment 
shows that the varying degrees of salinity of the water may be 
accompanied by striking individual differences of form in certain 
marine animals. Caterpillars of certain butterflies placed in 
boxes lined with differently colored papers develop pupae with 
colors harmonizing with those of the boxes containing them. 
Colors in various animals are intensified or changed by special 
foods or by changed temperature. In general it may be said 
that changes in any of the conditions important to animal life 
produce some change or variation in the body of those animals 
subjected thereto. Since this is true, it becomes inevitable that 
the various individual animals on the earth are differentiated 
from each other somewhat as was seen to be the case with the 
cells and tissue of which the individual itself is composed. The 
following paragraphs trace out some of the ways in which this 
differentiation of individuals takes place, the relations of the 
various organisms to each other and to the environment. Vari- 
ations in organisms, which are due to use and disuse or to the 
action of the environment, are known as fluctuations. As we 
have seen, these fluctuations do not seem to be inherited. On 
the other hand new qualities in organisms, which arise in the 
germ plasm, are known as mutations and are transmissible. 

135. The Struggle for Existence. — All animals (with a few 
possible exceptions in those which possess chlorophyll) depend 
ultimately upon green plants for food, those which live on other 
animals no less than those which use plant food directly. Only 
a limited amount of vegetation can be supported by the earth 
without cultivation. The number of animals therefore which 
can find a livelihood on the earth is in turn restricted. There is, 
however, no such limit of the powers of reproduction, either 
among plants or animals. Any pair of organisms if unchecked 
could in a very few years supply descendants enough to populate 
the earth up to its full powers of support. That they do not 
thus multiply at a geometric ratio is due solely to the influences 
at work to destroy these descendants. Any group of organisms 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 105 

will hold its own when, on an average, a pair of individuals can in 
a lifetime bring to maturity another pair to take their place. 
More than this means conquest of new territory; less than this, 
the extinction of the group. When we recall that all organisms 
have power of reproduction in a geometric ratio, it is easy to 
see that a time must soon come when a struggle for food and a 
foothold on the earth is inevitable. The struggle would be 
more intense between those organisms which demand the same 
kind of food, that is, among kindred. This is the fundamental 
struggle. It would be complicated by the fact that some groups 
of animals prey upon others, and that the primary conditions 
of life, as water, temperature, etc., are subject to striking 
changes. These conditions tend, by just so much as they de- 
stroy individuals, to relieve the struggle within the species. 
The interaction of these processes gives great variety to the life 
problems of animals and great interest to their study. There 
is nothing more certain than that this struggle has occupied 
organisms practically from the beginning, and all our explana- 
tions of present conditions must take note of the fact. All the 
important structures and activities of animals are modified by 
this competition for a livelihood. 

136. Library Exercises. — The student is invited to make real to himself the 
possibilities of a geometrical increase as applied to organisms. Take the known 
rate of increase (that is, the total number of descendants in an average lifetime) 
of a number of common animals and determine the possible living descendants 
in a specified time. Find references concerning infusoria, insects, fish, man. 
Have you any observations relating to the reality of the struggle for food among 
animals ? 

137. Natural Selection. — In spite of this power of reproduc- 
tion we see that, on the average, the mass of individuals does 
not increase. The earth is no more thickly inhabited by ani- 
mals today than it has been for countless ages. The propor- 
tions of different animals vary now and again, but that is all. 
Out of a family of one hundred young individuals striving for a 
foothold, no two of which are alike, ninety-eight on the average 
will be destroyed in a species which is just holding its own. 
Which will survive? Barring accidents, specially favoring or 
beyond the powers of any of the individuals to resist, those will 



106 ZOOLOGY 

survive which possess or acquire some quality, structure, or 
habit, better suited to the struggle in which they find them- 
selves. This may be a matter of strength, of speed in eluding 
enemies or in capturing prey, of specially acute senses, of a 
tendency toward concealment, or any one of a thousand things 
calculated to fit an organism for a special place in life. It is 
not necessary to suppose that these elements of fitness exist in 
striking degree at first. The struggle is so intense that even 
the slightest handicap may mean the destruction of the indi- 
vidual. This elimination of the weaker individuals results in 
what has been called natural selection through the "survival of 
the fittest." The hereditary qualities (mutations) thus pre- 
served in the individual are subject in their turn to transmission 
by heredity; and by the continuous action of natural selection 
and heredity through a long series of generations these elements 
of fitness are believed to accumulate, and thus animals become 
better and better adapted to their surroundings. 

138. Artificial Selection. — Since man has been on the earth 
he has been a most potent factor in the environment of the other 
animals. He has helped in the elimination of animals hurtful to 
his interests; has domesticated others which he has deemed 
useful, thus rendering their environment highly artificial and 
removing from them the struggle for existence in certain meas- 
ure. For natural selection he has substituted a conscious selec- 
tion of such organisms as are best suited to his needs or fancies, 
and has allowed these to reproduce, eliminating the others. 
This artificial process, which obtains results more rapidly than 
the natural, has given rise to the various breeds, strains, or 
races of dogs, horses, cattle, fowls, etc. By means of this selec- 
tion the habits and dispositions of the domestic animals have 
been improved as surely as their structure. Their power of 
self-support, however, has been so materially diminished that 
some of them could not succeed in finding a living in the wild 
state under ordinary circumstances. 

139. Practical Exercises. — Are there any domesticated animals whose species 
is represented in the wild state? Compare the habits and general structure of 
some of the domesticated animals with that of their nearest kin among wild species. 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION IO7 

How many species of domestic animals can you enumerate? From what groups 
do they come ? Trace the history and results of the domestication of some of the 
common animals, as fowls, pigeons, cats, dogs, etc. Have any strictly American 
species been domesticated? 

140. The Adaptation of Animals to their Environment — 

There are two distinct questions of importance to be con- 
sidered in connection with this subject: (i) the necessity of the 
adjustment of organisms to their environment, and (2) the 
means by which this adaptation takes place in the individual and 
becomes fixed in the species. It is clear that the limited food 
supply and the high powers of animals to reproduce result in 
a struggle for food among the animals at any time occupying 
the earth (135). This struggle is not merely among the animals 
in question, but is in reality between every organism and its 
whole environment. Extremes of heat and cold, drouth and 
famine, and numerous changes in the conditions of life make it 
absolutely necessary that the individual shall have some power of 
becoming adapted to what is permanent and what is changeable 
in its environment. What are the means then by which animals 
that are not completely in accord with their surroundings may 
become so? There are two possible ways in which this may 
come about. The animals may migrate to regions where the 
conditions are naturally more favorable to their well-being, that 
is, to regions for which they are already adapted. As a matter 
of fact this is known to be a common occurrence. Animals 
often disperse from their old centre of multiplication under 
the influence of hunger or other unfavorable local conditions. 
They are often assisted in these dispersals by such natural 
agencies as winds, currents of water, and other animals. If the 
migrating forms succeed in finding new regions suited to their 
needs, there results a condition of adaptation between organ- 
isms and their respective environments, but without any active 
change in the characteristics of the organism. The environ- 
ment itself is subject to continual change and there are too 
many barriers in the way of universal migration for this to be 
accepted as a complete explanation of the widely observed 
adjustment of animals to the conditions which surround them. 
Again animals may become suited to their environment by 



108 ZOOLOGY 

variation, without migration. There is no question that this 
also occurs, and it may be the more important factor of the two. 
It has been shown (133) that all animals are variable. Students 
of biology have suggested two important ways in which varia- 
tions may give rise to a harmony between the organism and its 
surroundings. This result may take place through natural 
selection, which eliminates the unfit (137). According to this 
view the organisms naturally tend to vary. The changing en- 
vironment stimulates this tendency to variation. Out of a 
thousand individuals of similar parentage there will be numer- 
ous slight inherited differences of structure and physiological 
qualities. Some of these will be more, and some less, favorable 
to the environment. In the struggle those will be eliminated 
which for any reason are strikingly unsuited to the environment. 
On the other hand, those animals whose inherited variations 
are most in accordance with the local condition will persist and 
propagate their kind, tending through heredity to pass on to 
their offspring the native qualities which enabled them to adjust 
themselves to their surroundings. Thus there will be a gradual, 
ever-increasing adaptation in the whole species of which they 
are a part, by natural selection. If, however, only inherited 
qualities are transmitted, and the fluctuations of body pro- 
duced by use and environment cannot be transmitted, natural 
selection could not act, by way of the acquired characters but 
only through happy mutations, in improving a species. 

Occasionally there occurs in offspring, whether from the 
action of the environment upon the germ plasm or from other 
inner causes, a sudden and considerable change from the parent 
type. Such a mutation product is known as a "sport." It is 
quite possible that natural selection may seize on such mutations 
and, if in a favorable direction, preserve and increase them. 
In such cases adaptation might take place with great rapidity, 
instead of in the gradual way described above. 

In the second place it has been argued that fortunate muta- 
tions are not just happy coincidences, but that organisms are 
so attuned to conditions that they naturally tend to make 
definite and suitable variations. In other words this view holds 
that the majority of the variations brought about by a given 



DIFFERENTIATION OE INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 109 

external condition and by use are definite and naturally in the 
direction to meet the necessities of the case. For example, 
cold stimulates the surface cells of the body of an animal. The 
immediate response of the nervous and nutritive processes in 
the organism are such that the surface cells take on greater 
activity and produce materials at the surface of the body which 
tend to protect the animal from the ill effects of the cold. This 
is an individual variation. To become effective in making the 
species better adapted to the environment these results must 
be handed down by inheritance to the next generation. If this 
can take place this theory would go a long way toward explain- 
ing how adaptations arise. There is, however as we have seen, 
very great doubt whether such adaptations acquired in the life 
of an individual can be transmitted to offspring. If this cannot 
occur we are thrown back upon natural selection of mutations 
as the principal explanation thus far offered to account for the 
progressive adaptation of animals to the environment. While 
natural selection does not cause variations, there is no reason- 
able doubt that it is a part of the explanation of progress. 
So far as we know either small or large variations may be 
selected and increased by breeding if they are only inherited 
variations and useful ones. To what extent natural selection 
is assisted by other factors is at present uncertain. It will be 
assumed in the following pages that it is one of the most impor- 
tant known factors in producing adaptation. 

141. Classification. — Since the environment is not the same 
at any two places on the earth and there is usually an accumula- 
tion, from generation to generation, in animals, of those features 
which tend to bring them into harmony with their different 
environments, it is inevitable that the animals themselves come 
to be very diverse, no matter how similar they were at the 
outset. In the discussion of them it therefore becomes neces- 
sary to devise some means of expressing the degree of likeness 
and unlikeness among the great number of individual animals 
existing on the earth. This may be done by means of an 
appropriate classification. The differences of structure and func- 
tion may be superficial or fundamental, but it must be remem- 



IIO ZOOLOGY 

bered that all these differences are in some way the outcome of 
the history of the organisms, and that the fundamental like- 
nesses are signs of kinship, or of similar history, or both. The 
grouping or classifying of organisms has two objects: (i) con- 
venience, that is, to make future work easy; and (2) to express 
the results of past study. In so far as the first motive predomi- 
nates the classification may be artificial, that is, may bring 
together animals that are really not closely related, though 
possessing a superficial resemblance. The grouping together of 
bats and birds and insects on the ground of their power of flying, 
or whales with fishes because of their habitat, would illustrate 
such a classification. In proportion as classification takes in 
all the facts known with regard to animals and expresses the 
relationship of forms classed together, it is said to be natural. 
Every classification is in some measure artificial since we do 
not know all the facts concerning the structure or history of 
any organism. 

142. Terms Used in Classification. — From what has been 
said concerning the power of multiplication in animals, the re- 
sulting struggle for existence, the variability, and the elimination 
of those whose variations are not suited to the various environ- 
ments into which the offspring migrate, it will be readily under- 
stood that even the descendants of a single pair of organ- 
isms will come in time to be noticeably different in form, size, 
color, and the like. The individuals of a given region will usu- 
ally be more like each other than like their cousins who have 
been subjected to some other kind of environment. There is 
thus a need of terms to express the degree of difference which, 
through these influences, finally characterizes the descendants 
even of common ancestors. Such groups of forms are usually 
known as varieties or subspecies of the original type from which 
they all sprang. Thus in the human race, while all men are con- 
sidered as belonging to one common type and possibly derived 
from the same human ancestors, there is enough difference be- 
tween the American Indian and the Caucasian to make it neces- 
sary to distinguish them as different varieties. Many of our 
widely distributed animals as the dog, the horse, the common fox 
have varieties which are readily distinguishable. 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION III 

When the causes which produce varieties have been at work 
long enough to eliminate the intermediate forms which are often 
found connecting the varieties, and to secure a close adaptation 
of the varieties to the environment, the term species is applied to 
what were formerly called varieties. Species thus merely rep- 
resent the further progress of individual differentiation and adap- 
tation to the different modes of life which give rise to variation in 
individuals — that is, to varieties. If a mutation is of sufficient 
importance to serve as a basis of. distinction and breeds true, 
a new species may be produced in one generation, without any 
intergrades. A species of animals may again split up by the 
action of the forces mentioned (and other conditions which 
have not been mentioned) into new varieties . and finally into 
new species. It is believed that the present diversity of animal 
and plant life has come about from a much more limited num- 
ber of kinds of ancestors by a method essentially such as that 
described above. The student will realize that in nature there 
are only individuals, no two of which are exactly alike. There 
is really no such thing in nature as a species. This is purely a 
mental concept of our own. 

Varieties of the same species usually cross freely. Their 
offspring are usually fertile. The individuals of different spe- 
cies as a rule cross less freely and when they do cross the term 
hybrid has been applied to their offspring. Such hybrids are 
often sexually infertile. In recent years geneticists class as 
hybrid the crosses of subspecies as well. 

The genus is related to species somewhat as the species to 
the varieties which compose it. A genus embraces those kin- 
dred species which show a high degree of relationship among 
themselves. The characters which serve to distinguish differ- 
ent genera are more fundamental than those by which we 
recognize varieties or species, and argue a more extended time 
in the differentiation of genera than is required for species. 

Other terms, as families, orders, classes, phyla, are used to 
denote the still more extensive and comprehensive divisions 
of the animal kingdom. 

143. Illustration of Classification. — The domestic cat as a 
species has many varieties or breeds, as the maltese, manx, 



112 ZOOLOGY 

tortoise-shell, etc. On the other hand, the wild-cat, the tiger, 
the leopard, the lion, are species which have numerous points 
of structural likeness to the domestic cat, and are said to belong 
to the same genus (Felis). The genus Felis and others less 
common are placed together in the family F elides. These with 
the members of the dog family and others constitute the order 
Carnivora (flesh eaters), and similarly for the higher groups in 
the diagram below. 

Kingdom — Animalia (Protozoa, arthropods, chordates). 
Phylum — Chordata (fishes, birds, mammals). 

Class — Mammalia (carnivora, ruminants, bats, man). 
Order — Carnivora (dogs, wolves, cats, etc.). 
Family — Felidae (cat family). 

Genus — Felis (cat, lion, tiger, etc.). 

Species — Felis domestica (with its numerous 
varieties). 

The name of an animal is its generic name followed by its 
specific name as above. The variety name is added when there 
are distinct varieties. 

144. Relation of the Individual to the Species. — The vari- 
ous types of animals produce their offspring in numbers pro- 
portional to the difficulties encountered in bringing the young to 
maturity. In the most favorable circumstances many more 
are produced than can survive. In cases where enemies are 
numerous millions of eggs may be deposited in order to secure 
a single adult. Nature is thus said to be lavish in her waste 
of individuals in order that the species may be continued and 
improved in its adaptations. These surviving descendants, 
generation after generation, have become, through natural selec- 
tion of their variations, more and more suited to their surround- 
ings. This means that the production of many individuals, a 
large number of which never reach maturity, secures the devel- 
opment of a small aristocracy which propagates the type. The 
species is related to its individuals something as the individual 
is to the renewed and changing cells of which it is composed. 
Species are not constant, but even the most fixed must undergo 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 113 

change or extinction when confronted by new conditions. 
Species however are less variable than the individuals composing 
them because the species represents an average condition 
of all its individuals. Adaptation to environment is the great 
problem which every animal must solve. Those which do solve 
it successfully constitute the species. It is needful then to 
consider next those characteristics of structure, habit, or in- 
stinct whereby a species of organisms becomes successfully ad- 
justed to its surroundings. In a broad sense all the organs 
which were outlined in the preceding chapters are adaptations: 
the digestive organ and process, to the nature of food; the 
nervous system and the special senses, to the external stimuli; 
the lungs, gills, and skin to the need of oxygen, and the like. 
In contrast to adaptations of this kind we now consider as 
adaptations those more special modifications of fundamental 
structure by which a species becomes more suited to some lim- 
ited habitat or to some special mode of life which is of signal use 
to it in the struggle for existence. 

145. Classification of the Principal Types of Adaptation. 

A. Adaptations primarily in relation to the inorganic en- 
vironment. 

B. Adaptations primarily related to other organisms. 

I. Among animals of the same species. 

1 . Friendly and social, 
(a) Mating. 

(6) Parental care of young. 

(c) Organic colonies. 

(d) Social and communal life. 

2. Competitive: for food, mates, etc. 

II. Among animals of different species, and to plants. 

1 . Friendly and social, 
(a) Commensalism. 
(6) Symbiosis. 

2. Competitive. 

(c) The predaceous habit: adaptations for offense 
and defense. 

(d) Parasitism. 



114 ZOOLOGY 

146. Special Adaptations to the Inorganic Environment. — 

These embrace such special structural devices as hair, feathers, 
the blubber of whales, which enable the body to maintain its 
temperature despite the condition of the medium. The habits 
of burrowing and hibernation, the winter migrations of many 
animals, especially birds, are examples of instinctive adaptation 
to cold and to food supply. The same end is obtained by man 
by artificial clothing, by houses, and by the use of fire which has 
been one of the most important instruments in his progress. 
Rotifers, infusoria, and some other animals have become cap- 
able of retaining life during thorough drying, and of resuming 
activity on the return of moisture. Adaptations to locomotion 
in different media, earth, air, and water; to climbing; to station- 
ary life, belong to this group. These are only a few of the many 
instances of adaptations of organisms to the materials and the 
forces about them. It is easy to see that some of the adapta- 
tions are of life and death importance, and without them the 
species would become extinct. It has been argued that these 
qualities of the organism arise in a way something like this: 
owing .to the irritability of all protoplasm, the prevalent external 
factors as heat, light, gravity, moisture, and chemically active 
substances must produce some change, — that is, some response 
on the part of the organism. Through internal, hereditary 
causes different animals respond with different degrees of suit- 
ability to these conditions. Those organisms in which the 
response is not in accordance with the best adjustment to the 
special environment are less likely to survive in the struggle for 
existence. Those which do survive and propagate their kind 
because they are so endowed as to make favorable responses to 
these stimuli are, by reason of these facts, more and more likely 
in succeeding generations to possess and to develop those 
structures and behavior which suit them to their surroundings. 

147. Practical Exercises. — Find other instances which seem to indicate adapta- 
tion either in structure or habit to special features in the environment: as adapta- 
tions to prevent undue evaporation in a dry climate; adaptations to warm condi- 
tions; to varying temperature; to drouth; to the use of special plants as food; to 
light; to gravity. Illustrate from observation and by library reference the types 
of adaptations cited in the text above. Is the power of sleeping an adaptation of 
any value ? Among what animals is it found ? Find instances in which originally 



DIFFERENTIATION OE INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION II 5 

useful adaptations have become useless and even hurtful from changed conditions 
of life. 

Fig. 52. 




Fig. 52. Young Opossum (Didelphys virginiana) photographed from life by J. W. Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — Of what conceivable value to the animal is the 
prehensile tail? In what other groups of animals is the tail prehensile? What are 
the habits of the opossum? How is this species distributed on the earth? Where 
are other marsupials found? 



148. The relations of animals of the same species to one 
another is an interesting mixture of competition and coopera- 
tion. In the higher forms the parents instinctively make great 
personal sacrifices that the offspring may be cared for ; the off- 
spring on the other hand struggle with each other for this 
parental provision. In the classification offered (145) it should 
be remembered that both friendly and competitive habits and 
structures are always represented in the same individual. 



Il6 ZOOLOGY 

149. Mating Adaptations. — One of the most striking forms 
of individual variation is seen in the differences between the 
sexes of higher animals. The male and female are often so 
widely different in form, size, color, and other qualities, that 
naturalists have sometimes erroneously classified them as be- 
longing to different species and yet it is' very manifest that, 
though different, the sexes are closely adapted to each other. 
In the lower types of animals the sexes are frequently repre- 
sented in the same individual. In such cases the elements often 
mature at different times. An individual is thus alternately 
male and female. This is regarded by many as being the primi- 
tive condition, — the separation of the sexes being accomplished 
by the repression, so to speak, of one or the other sex in each 
individual. Some think that the temperature and the amount 
and quality of food have something to do with the proportion 
of males and females which are produced. So sexual dimor- 
phism in some species may be in some measure a response to 
external conditions and presents every evidence of being an 
advantageous adaptation to the conditions of life. On the other 
hand, it is believed by many that the sex of most organisms is. 
determined by conditions in the egg and sperm that unite. In 
other words it is thought that sex is inherited, and cannot be 
changed by external conditions. 

The very union of the sperm and the ovum, whereby two 
cells lose their individuality in one, with a renewal of powers 
and the mingling of the qualities of two parents, must be looked 
on as an adaptation of the very highest moment to the animals 
in which it first appeared and to their descendants. So too are 
the wonderful internal mechanisms and tendencies that cause 
the definite unions and separations of chromosomes in the sex 
cells as these prepare for fertilization. The chemical attraction 
which the female cell exerts on the motile sperm cell is a special 
adaptation which accomplishes this union. Furthermore it is 
undoubtedly true that many of the color markings, notes, 
motions, and the like in which the male and female animals 
differ are recognition marks whereby the presence of one sex is 
made known to the other. 

Of very first importance as adaptations in reproduction are 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 117 

the sex attractions and the accompanying emotional states and 
expressions which are seen in birds, higher mammals, and man. 
In man these are at the basis of the home and family and the 
higher personal and social life which arises from the family. 

Ova of some species may develop in the absence of sperm. 
This is known as parthenogenesis, and is regarded as having 
arisen from the more common bi-sexual condition. In some 
species it is exceptional, in others the predominant method, and 
in still others in which males are unknown it is the only form of 
sexual reproduction. 

150. Practical Exercises. — What is the difference in the notes of the male and 
female of the American quail which would serve as recognition marks? Mention 
other cases of sexual dimorphism which appear to you to serve a similar end. 
What evidences have we that the mingling of sperm and ovum results in a re- 
juvenescence? in the introduction of variation? Show how these are important 
as adaptations in the struggle for existence. In what groups is parthenogenesis 
found? Give details of the facts in several cases. 

151. Reproduction and Care of Young. — The very rate of 
reproduction is an adaptation to the severity of the struggle for 
existence experienced by the animals of a given species. Those 
forms with few enemies and abundant food usually need to pro- 
duce only a few young in order to maintain their place. Others 
less favored in these regards, as many insects, the lobster, the 
salmon, must reproduce thousands of young in a lifetime. Simi- 
larly the length of the reproductive period and of life becomes 
an adaptation to the same end. It is clear from these facts 
that any device which the parent may adopt likely to bring a 
larger percentage of the young to maturity will make for a 
saving in the necessary birthrate. This husbands the parental 
resources and conduces to the efficiency of the individual and 
of the species. It must not be supposed that parental care is 
confined to the higher animals. In its most elementary condi- 
tion it takes the form of food stored in the egg, and in depositing 
the egg in a safe place for hatching. After hatching it takes the 
form of supplying food, or protection, or both. Cephalopods, 
fishes, and birds have a large amount of food substance stored in 
the egg. Many animals, as the clam, some fishes, some reptiles, 
and the mammals, retain the eggs in special portions of the 



n8 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 53. 




Fig. S3- Galls on oak, cynipid (Holcaspis duricoria). Natural size. Photo by Polsom. 



Fig. 54. 




Fig. 54. Galls on elm, produced by an aphid, Colopha ulmicola. Natural size. Photo by 

J. W. Folsom. 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 



119 



body until development has well begun. The flies lay their 
eggs in the decaying matter which the young use as food. The 
solitary wasps seal theirs up in nests with the food (dead or 
wounded spiders or insects) on which they are to develop. 
Other insects bore into the tissues of living plants and deposit 
their eggs, about which " galls" or masses of abnormal vegetable 
tissue are developed. The ichneumon fly deposits its eggs in 
the body of some other animal. Thus we see an immense num- 
ber of adaptations useful to the organism have been developed 

Fig. 55- 




Fig. 55. Galls on hackberry leaf, produced by a fly (Cecidomyiidce). Natural size. 
Photo by Folsom. 

Questions on figures 53, 54, 55. — What does the gall represent from the point 
of view of the plant? From the point of view of the insect? What seems to 
cause the undue vegetable growth? Find other galls in nature and try to find 
what type of insect is responsible for them? In what ways may one hope to 
determine this fact? 



in connection with the egg-laying habit. After such provision 
the majority of animals leave the young to care for themselves; 
but many higher forms take further pains to protect and train 
their offspring during the course of their development. The 
care which the birds and mammals give their young is a matter 
of common observation. It takes the form of food, of special 
homes, — as nests, burrows, dens, etc., and of the personal serv- 
ices of the parents, who will often protect the young from their 
enemies at the risk of their own life. Similar care is shown by 



120 



ZOOLOGY 



some insects, especially the social forms, such as bees, ants, and 
the like. The lobster carries its young on its abdominal ap- 
pendages for months after hatching. The lower invertebrates 
are practically destitute of these later care-taking instincts. 

It is interesting to notice that animals differ very much in 
their helplessness at hatching or at birth. The young of the 
reptiles, or the duck, or the chicken are relatively well developed 

Fig. 56 




Fig. 56. Nestling Marsh Hawks (Circus cyaneus hudsonius). From Year-Book. Department of 

Agriculture. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the nesting and breeding habits of the 
marsh hawk? Are the young precocial or altricial? 

at hatching, and are very soon able to run about and feed {pre- 
cocial). The young of the song birds, as the thrushes, swallows, 
etc., are wholly dependent on the care of the parents for a con- 
siderable time {altricial) . In the herbivorous mammals, as the 
sheep and cattle, the young have the use of their limbs in a short 
time after birth. Among the carnivorous forms, as the cat and 
dog, the young are more helpless. In the human species the 
period of helplessness is longest and consequently the necessity 
of parental care greatest. In general, the longer period of 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 121 

parental protection accompanies the development of more com- 
plex and highly organized instincts, and intelligence. The 
lengthened period of dependence, while a burden to the parent 
in one sense, is an advantage to it in the saving in number of 
offspring, and serves to benefit the species, not merely by keep- 
ing the offspring alive until they may reproduce, but in the 
greater development of such parental instincts as gentleness, 
self-sacrifice, and the like. In the human race it has given rise 
to the home and family, which we regard as the real basis of 
modern society ; and such social organization in turn has been a 
most powerful factor in the progress of the human species. 
Death and the length of life must also be considered as special 
adaptations. This differs in different species very widely. 
Life in general, where natural selection acts, will be the period 
of youth, plus the period of fertility, plus the time necessary 
to rear the latest offspring. For the species, the life of the 
individual beyond this period becomes a disadvantage. This 
disadvantage to the species, in the long run, fixes the normal 
length of life in the species. 

152. Practical Exercises. — Add instances of parental care which have fallen 
under your own observation, and give a statement of the facts in the case. Com- 
pare the mammals with which you are acquainted, in this regard. Compare the 
condition of the young of the robin, the quail, the blue- jay, the pigeon as to 
maturity at hatching. Do any animals of your acquaintance reproduce more than 
once in a year? Why is one reproductive period per year a common adaptation. 
Compile statistics concerning the longevity of various animals, and its relation to 
size, to reproductive period, and to the time demanded to reach the adult stage. 

153. Colonies. — In some of the lower groups of animals, 
as the polyps and jelly-fishes, in which the reproduction by 
fission or budding is prominent, the newly formed individuals 
remain for a longer or shorter time in association with the parent 
or with each other. These units which otherwise might be 
separate individuals are organically connected and often come, 
by the continuation of the process, to form immense masses, 
as in the coral. Such organic associations are called colonies. 
Colonies rarely occur in animals in which the organs are highly 
specialized. Very often the individuals become specialized for 
the performance of a special portion of the work, and thus we 
get several quite differently constructed individuals within the 



122 ZOOLOGY 

colony (polymorphism, Fig. 87). The whole colony may then 
behave somewhat as an individual, the polyps taking the place 
of organs (Siphonophora) . Colonial animals are almost always 
attached to fixed or floating objects. These polymorphic indi- 
viduals are closely adapted to each other in structure and divi- 
sion of labor; and the colonial habit in general, even where there 
is no division of labor, is a successful device whereby limited 
areas are completely occupied by the members of a species (as 
in the case of the branching corals) where the single polyps would 
be practically helpless. The arrangement of the polyps on the 
common skeleton and the rate of growth of the different polyps 
are beautifully adapted to the best use of the currents of water 
by which the food and oxygen are conveyed. 

154. Library and Museum Exercise. — What phyla of the animal kingdom 
supply instances of colonies? Trace different degrees of polymorphism. In 
what different ways do the individuals occur on the common stock? Show how 
the relative rate of growth of the differently placed individuals determines the 
ultimate form of the colony as a whole very much as bud arrangement determines 
the character of a tree. 

155. Social and Communal Life. — Animals of the same 
species often become associated even when there is no organic 
connection between the individuals. The association may be 
temporary or permanent. The bond in these cases is not phys- 
ical, but instinctive and psychical. In its simplest form this is 
merely a matter of gregariousness such as is seen in the schools of 
fishes or flocks of birds, which are apparently brought together 
at certain periods by a common instinct or by common needs. 
Undoubtedly sex attraction is an early bond and a powerful one 
in bringing individuals together in pairs or in small groups. A 
step more intimate than mere gregariousness is the banding 
together of predaceous animals as wolves or vultures, or pelicans, 
for mutual help in finding or capturing the prey. Correspond- 
ing to this, on the part of their victims, we find the herding of 
the bison, of deer, and their allies for protection, whether by 
fighting together or by the stationing of sentinels to give notice 
to the feeding herd of the approach of danger. In still other 
forms, notably among such insects as the bees and ants, there 
is a very intimate and permanent union in social life. This is 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 1 23 

usually associated with the instinct of home building, and thus 
a high degree of division of labor with its great advantages 
becomes possible. This is carried to such an extent that often 
polymorphic individuals, such as queens, drones and workers, 
result, much as in the organic colonies. In such cases it is clear 
that the individual life comes to be bound up in the success of 
the community. Such forms usually exert great care for their 
young and develop a relatively high order of "intelligence." 
The principal social forms are the ants, of which there are more 
than two thousand species; some of the bees and wasps; the 
termites, or so-called white-ants; beavers; some monkeys and 
man. 

156. Library Exercise. — Make a report on the social life of the honey-bee, 
including the following points: the home; the kinds of individuals, their origin, 
and their work in the community; their food and its preparation; mode of caring 
for the young; swarming and its significance. Make a similar report concerning 
some species of ant. Find facts concerning the following topics: "ants' cows;" 
slave-making among the ants; army ants; the agricultural ant. 

157. Competition among animals of the same species is not, 
for the most part, of a personal character except in the case of 
the struggles of the males of polygamous animals. The ordinary 
struggle for existence among them is merely that of food-seeking, 
where all possess the same organs and habits but in varying 
degrees of excellence. Those which have the greater strength, 
hardiness, or intelligence are more likely to get their portion of 
food at the expense of the weaker, and thus to propagate their 
qualities. Sometimes, however, animals live directly at the ex- 
pense of their own species. Young spiders before escaping from 
the cocoon in which they are hatched devour each other, thus 
instituting an acute phase of the struggle for existence in the 
place of the protection prepared by parental care. Many fishes 
are known to devour their own young. We have all had occa- 
sion to wonder what becomes of the small frogs in a box contain- 
ing large ones. 

The struggle between the males for the possession of the 
females has resulted in the development of many interesting 
adaptations. The struggle may take the form of actual combat 



124 ZOOLOGY 

in connection with which organs of offense and defense are 
found. Such are the horns, tusks, spurs, manes, and even the 
excessive size of the males as compared with the females. In a 
similar way temperament, courage, fierceness and the like play 
a part. These qualities depend in part upon the glands of 
internal secretion. Manifestly the same qualities which make 
a male a formidable rival to another are likely to be of service 
to himself, his mates, and his young, and thus to the species, in 
protecting them from the attack of their enemies among other 
species. The competition between males is not all of this stress- 
ful kind, however. It is believed by many naturalists that, in 
those instances where simple mating rules, those males with the 
most striking colors, pleasant voices, and winning ways displace 
their less favored rivals and thus tend to accumulate by natural 
(sexual) selection the adaptations of this class. 

158. The individuals of one species of animals may often 
be practically indifferent to the presence of those of other species. 
Their relation is simply that of competing for the general food 
supply and thus assisting in the elimination of the unfit in all 
species. They may graze in the same pasture, swim in the same 
pool, or even be parasitic on the same host, and have no other 
relation. From this as the simplest relationship we may pass 
by gradual stages to the most intimate friendships and the most 
bitter antagonism. Every species is indifferent to some and 
hostile to other of the species which surround it ; and man is no 
exception to the rule. It is a perversion of manifest fact to 
pretend that all animals are of some use to man. 

159. We have seen that the individuals of a given species 
are engaged in a struggle among themselves for the means of 
subsistence, and that in certain cases they form communities 
or colonies — a kind of organic corporation — by which they meet 
more successfully the demands made upon. them by their en- 
vironment. Similar partnerships may be formed by animals 
of different species. The simplest of these associations are 
known as commensalism or "mess-mateism," in which the degree 
of dependence and mutual advantage is perhaps not very great. 
As instances, may be cited the occupancy of the same burrows 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 



125 



by the prairie dog and a species of owl; the attachment of 
barnacles to whales and sharks; the hundreds of species of 
other insects which live in the nests of ants; the lodging of 
fishes and other animals in the body-cavity of some of the 
large tropical sea-anemones or among the tentacles of some 
of the Hydrozoa. Each member of the association can live 
without the other, but for some reason they often occur to- 
gether. The way in which species of rats and mice follow 
man and occupy his habitations perhaps may be considered 
as illustrating a similar condition. 

160. Symbiosis. — Under this term are included even closer 
relationships between members of different species, where there 

Fig. 57- 




Fig. 57- Hermit-crab in the shell of a Gasteropod. After Morse. 

Questions on the figure. — What structural adaptations has the hermit-crab 
to this mode of life? What conceivable gain has such a habit? What animals 
are cited as symbiotic with the hermit-crab? 

seems to be a distinct advantage accruing to both members of 
the partnership sufficient to account for it. The relation 
of the ants to the aphids or plant-lice which they capture may 
be so described. The aphids, although captives, are nourished, 
often at great expense of labor to the ant, on the food which 
they most prefer, and in return the ants use the sweet secretions 
of their bodies as food. Symbiosis is probably more common 



126 



ZOOLOGY 



between animals and plants than among animals. The most 
interesting of these latter are seen in the so-called "ant-loving" 
plants, in which the plant produces special homes or special 
foods used by the ants, and the ants in return protect the plant 
from the ravages of other leaf-cutting ants or hurtful insects. 

Fig. 58. 




Fig. 58. Argynnis cybele on thistle. Natural size. Photo by Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — For what end does the butter-fly visit the thistle? 
What special adaptations does the butter-fly possess for this mode of life? What 
is the gain to the thistle from the visits? 

Certain sea-anemones possess unicellular algae imbedded in the 
cells of the entoderm. These algae derive their nourishment 
from the wastes of the animal tissues and supply oxygen and 
possible other matter to the cells in which they lie. The close 
relation between the structure and instincts of insects, on the 
one hand, and the form of flowers, their products and needs, on 
the other, illustrates a symbiotic adaptation which has long 
attracted students both of botany and zoology. See Fig. 58. 

161. Library Studies. — Make a report concerning the various myrmecophilous 
plants. Accumulate all the supposed instances of symbiosis which your library 
records. Lichens, among plants, are considered to illustrate symbiosis. How? 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 1 27 

162. The Preying Habit. — The effects of this habit are 
stamped upon the structure and activities of both the pursuer 
and the pursued. It is in this relation that nature is indeed 
"red in tooth and claw." While in general the same organs 
and habits which are of value in the capture of prey are useful 
in the defense of the possessor, it is possible to find a series 
of adaptations of an offensive character and others more 
specially of defensive value. The curved claws and sharp 
teeth, the stealthy approach, the sudden spring, and the great 
agility of the one are met by the timidity, the keen senses, 
the fleetness of the other. We can see that these defensive 
adaptations must in the long run keep pace with the offensive, 
if both types are to survive, else the prey would be exterminated, 
which would entail no less surely the destruction of their ene- 
mies than if these should lose their power of capturing their prey. 

163. Adaptations for Protection. — In addition to the alter- 
natives of fighting or fleeing, the animals which are preyed 
upon have very interesting and effective qualities that make 
for safety. Many forms, as the Crustacea, have permanent 
outer coverings; most mollusks have a box-like shell into which 
they can retire when threatened by attack; others by burrow- 
ing or otherwise come to occupy obscure corners in nature 
where enemies find it difficult to follow. Forms as widely dif- 
ferent as the earth-worm, mole, and the chamois find safety in 
retirement. 

This hiding-theme may be wrought out in ways almost 
equally effective by what is called protective resemblance. By 
this is meant that the animal becomes less easily distinguished 
from its environment because of its color, or form, or both. 
This resemblance may be to some particular object, or merely 
a general harmony of color with the surroundings. As illus- 
trative of the latter head we may cite the quail among the 
dead leaves and grasses, the sober-hued lizard on the logs, the 
green caterpillars or tree-toads among the leaves; the tawny 
color of desert animals, the white fur of arctic forms, the trans- 
parency of many marine animals. Indeed the great majority 
of animals show some traces of resemblance to the surround- 



128 



ZOOLOGY 
Fig. 59. 



S * ' .& " '*&&: 0* 


w 


V 

t - ■ as-. 




w. SHfiS^ii^^ 


**** 


,;■'..■:•■■.'-.•'.:••■■■., 




JtF~ 




m' £ 




% ■ 







Fig. 59. Nestling Mourning Doves (Zenaidura macroura). From U. S. Dept. Agriculture 

Year-Book, 1900. 

Questions on the figure. — Is there anything suggestive of protective markings? 
What are the nesting habits of the dove ? What character of nest is constructed ? 



Fig. 60. 




Fig. 60. A sea-horse, — Phyllopteryx eques. From Eckstein. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare this figure of sea-horse with figures of 
other species and note the chief difference between them and the typical fishes in 
external characteristics. What about the figure suggests protective resemblance? 
At what point does the tail of the fish end? 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 



129 



ings, since concealment is alike advantageous to the predaceous 
and to their prey. In some instances there is the ability to 
change color with changing environment, as in the tree-toads, 
the chameleon, and in some fishes. This is not chiefly by the 
direct action of the light on the pigment cells but by reflex 
action of the nervous system stimulated through the eyes. 

Many other animals become inconspicuous by reason of a 
resemblance to special objects. It is among the insects that the 
most numerous illustrations of this are found. The walking- 
stick insect appears as dead twigs when not in motion. Many 
butterflies resemble leaves when at rest. A noted instance is 
Kallima which is a large species, conspicuous when flying be- 



Fig. 6] 




Fig. 61. Walking-stick insect (Diapheromera veliei) on twig. Natural size. By J. W. Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — To what group of insects does this belong? Do you 
see any reason to suppose that it illustrates protective resemblance? 



cause of blue and orange patches on the upper surface of the 
wings. The wings are folded when at rest and the lower sides 
are colored and marked so like a dead leaf that the deception 
is very complete. The larvae of some of the geometrid moths, 
often called "measuring- worms," are remarkably like the 
twigs on which they crawl, both in color and shape. This is 
made more striking by the presence of roughnesses on the sur- 
face which suggest buds, and by the possession of muscles 
9 



130 ZOOLOGY 

which enable them to support themselves rigidly outstretched 
for hours by means of the posterior legs alone, so that the 
axis of the body makes an angle with the branch. 

Other instances of special devices whereby animals protect 
themselves are found in the electric organs of some eels and 
other fishes, in the poisonous fluids with or without special 
stinging organs, as in ccelenterates, bees, some spiders, a few 
fishes (spines), and some snakes; also in the repulsive odors of the 
skunk and many caterpillars. 

Caterpillars oftentimes have an acrid or otherwise unpleasant 
taste, but, unless this is associated with a special odor or color 
by which its enemies may recognize the fact, it is not likely to 
prove of any great service tp the animal possessing it since a sin- 
gle incision in the soft body made by the bill of a bird is likely to 
cause death. For similar reasons animals with stings are often 
highly colored. The colors or other marks are, in these cases, in 
the nature of warnings. The "monarch," one of our large con- 
spicuous butterflies is an illustration of the association of color 
and offensive taste; the wasps and the coral-snake, of the asso- 
ciation of color with the possession of stinging powers. Thus 
owing to the power of association in the mind of the enemies, 
the advantage comes to lie quite as much in the possession of 
the special color or form as in the presence of the underlying 
protective powers. These facts give rise to the remarkable phe- 
nomena called mimicry. This term applies to those instances 
where an edible or harmless animal, by reason of its similarity 
to those which are disagreeable, partakes of their immunity 
from attack. Mimicry must not be considered as in any way 
a matter of choice with the animal but simply the result of 
natural selection in preserving and allowing the propagation 
of favorable variations. The viceroy butterfly, though edible, 
seems to be protected by its striking likeness to the monarch. 
The nearest relatives of the viceroy are quite differently marked. 
Mimicry of bees and wasps is found among many flies and some 
moths and beetles. Non- venomous snakes occasionally [have 
the marking and the motions of the venomous. 

164. Practical Exercise. — Try to discover instances of general protective re- 
semblance among the animals known to you. Analyze each case and see just 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 131 

the nature and value of the protection. Treat similarly the subject of special pro- 
tective resemblance. Do you know any really harmless animals which assume 
apparently dangerous attitudes for protection? Accumulate all the available 
references on mimicry. Opposing ideas on the subject. What range of color 
have you seen illustrated among animals? In a single animal? Where, on the 
earth, are the brightest-hued animals found? What are believed to be the' causes 
of colors among animals? What are the uses of colors? What is albinism?' 
Where have you seen instances of it? See Fig. 62. 

Fig. 62. 




Fig. 62. Albino Opossum (Didelphys virginiana). Photo by Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — What is albinism ? In what structures is it manifest ? 
Among what groups of animals can you find that it occurs? To what is color in 
hair due ? What natural conditions tend to produce color in organisms ? What is 
the chief value of color as an adaptation, individual and social? 

165. Parasitism. — Of a nature which combines the quali- 
ties of commensals and of the preying animals is the association 
known as parasitism. It is an association of individuals of 
different species in which one member (the parasite) gets all 
the benefits, and the other (the host) suffers the loss. It is 
a case where one species preys on another, but in which it is 
to the advantage of the parasite, especially if a permanent one, 
as well as of the host that the life of the latter shall not be 
suddenly destroyed. It will be readily seen that the parasite 
increases the work to be done by the host, thus being a handi- 
cap in the struggle for existence. This might easily bring, 
about the destruction of these species which serve as host were 
it not for the fact that nearly or quite all animals support vari- 
ous parasites. Parasites are of two classes, — external, as the 
fleas, lice, and the like; or internal, as most of the parasitic. 



132 



ZOOLOGY 



worms. The fleas are transient parasites, as are many other 
insects which are free in the adult stage but lay their eggs in 
or on the body of the host where they undergo partial develop- 
ment as parasites. In other instances the parasite must spend 
its whole life in the body of one or more hosts. These are 
called permanent parasites. 

Fig. 63. 




Fig. 63. — Caterpillar of Samia cecropia parasitized. From Lugger. 

Questions on the figure. — Seek in your reference literature all figures and refer- 
ences to caterpillars attacked by parasites. Why would caterpillars be rather 
favorable hosts for parasites? What are a few of the parasitic enemies of cater- 
pillars? What economic importance has this phenomenon? 



In addition to the drain on the resources of the host, the 
presence of the parasite may so irritate the tissues of the host 
as to produce abnormal growth and disease therein. In many 
of the transient parasites the life of the individual host is of 
no consequence after the end of the period of parasitism and 
hence the entire destruction of the host's body may occur just 
as truly as in the ordinary preying species. Very profound 
modifications occur in the structure of the parasite, which are 
the outcome of, and in part an adaptation to, the special mode 
of life. There is usually a degeneration of the organs of di- 
gestion, of motion, and of sensation, since the parasite de- 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 



*33 



pends on the host for the performance of these functions. The 
explanation of this degeneration of useless or unused organs 
is not quite certain. It is known that disuse causes structures 
to deteriorate in the life of the individual, and some naturalists 
claim that part of this loss is transmitted to the next genera- 
tion. The claim is denied by many, who are disposed to con- 
sider that it is merely a case of natural selection working upon 
mutations which appear in various ways, all tending toward 
simplification of organs and the economizing of materials. 
The reproductive organs on the contrary become much more 
complicated and the reproductive elements are produced in great 

Fig. 64. 




Fig. 64. Lake Lamprey (Petromyzon marinu^) clinging to Sucker. (From Bull. U. S. Fish Com- 
mission, by Surface.) 

Questions on the figure. — Does it seem that this is an instance of parasitism 
or simple preying? What special organs has the lamprey adapting it to this 
habit? What references can you find to the breeding habits of the lamprey? 

abundance. This is an adaptation to the difficulties involved 
in finding the special host in which development may proceed. 
This is more striking because many parasites require two dif- 
ferent hosts in order to complete the life cycle, and great mor- 
tality accompanies the passage from one host to another. A 
good illustration of such parasites is the tape- worm which 
infests the trout in Yellowstone Lake. The larvae enter the 
tissues of the trout and by their ravages weaken and kill the 
host. The dead fish are eaten by pelicans. The worms de- 
velop to the adult, sexual condition in the digestive canal of 



134 ZOOLOGY 

this second host and the eggs or young embryos escape into 
the water with the excreta and from there are taken up by 
other trout whose destruction is again wrought by the tissue- 
infesting larvae. This passage from one host to another prob- 
ably arose, and is helped, by the carnivorous habit among 
animals. 

The parasites are almost exclusively invertebrates. The 
worms and arthropods furnish the most numerous representa- 
tives. The gregarines, and some other Protozoa, are internal 
parasites, often being parasitic within the cells . There are only 
a few parasitic vertebrates, and these are transient. They be- 
long to the lower fishes (lamprey, Fig. 64). 

Parasitism is a very successful adaptation to a much limited 
environment in which the organism has bartered its original 
powers for a life of comparative ease. The only necessity 
still resting upon it is in the matter of reproduction, and the 
success with which this needful function is accomplished shows 
us that the parasite must be considered well adapted to its 
conditions, notwithstanding its degeneracy. Its chief hazards 
are met in the passage from host to host and these are over- 
come by the carnivorous and omnivorous habits of hosts and 
the extraordinary powers of multiplication on the part of the 
parasites. 

1 65 s . Practical Exercises. — Enumerate all the parasites, transient and per- 
manent, known to infest man, and find to what groups of animals they belong. 
Report on the habits of the principal parasites on man: as tape- worm, trichina, 
hook-worm, etc. What other hosts are demanded to complete the life cycle? 
What are the principal sanitary conclusions to be reached ? Examine the mouth- 
parts of the mosquito (see Fig. 65). To what kind of feeding are they adapted? 

166. Habits and Instincts in Relation to Adaptation. — In 

the study of adaptations there is constant danger lest we 
come to consider that structures alone are adaptive. In reality, 
adaptation in the manner of doing things is quite as important 
as in the structure of the organs by which work is done. When 
even the simplest organisms are acted on by an external stimulus 
they respond to it in some way. This response may be either 
advantageous or disadvantageous to the organism. If unfav- 
orable, the result may be disastrous. If favorable later repe- 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 135 

titions of the stimulus are all the more likely to be answered 
by the same kinds of response as in the first instance. This in- 
dividual acquirement of a special mode of responding to stimuli 
is known as habit. Since responses in higher organisms occur 
by means of the nervous system we rightly associate habits 
with the nervous activities. In reality, however, mere pro- 
toplasm may acquire these habitual modes of action, and one 

Fig. 65. 




m 

ma. 
I 

Fig. 65. The head of female Mosquito (Culex). After Dimmock. a, antennae; c, clypeus; h, 
hypopharynx; m, mandibles; ma., maxillae; m.p., maxillary palpus; I, labium; la., labrum (epi- 
pharynx). 

Questions on the figure. — In what way and for what purpose are the mouth- 
parts of the mosquito used? What are the probable functions of the antennae? 
Compare the antennae and the mouth-parts of a male and female mosquito. See 
also Fig. 42. Mention some respects in which the mosquito is adapted to its mode 
of life? What extent of horopter do its eyes command? To what degree is the 
mosquito parasitic? 

might say that all such adaptations are dependent on the power 
of protoplasm to respond to external stimuli. By reason of 
this power of adaptive responses, organisms may become 
habituated or acclimatized to changes in their environment, 
their habits or responses changing according to the necessities 
of the case. It is a matter of common observation that animals 
can thus gradually be brought to the endurance of conditions 
which would originally have killed them. Such must have 
been true of the animals which have come to live in the waters 
of hot springs. Such must have been the way in which other 
animals were changed from the marine to the fresh- water habit, 
since all fresh-water animals are believed to have been derived 
from marine forms. 



I36 ZOOLOGY 

Similarly in the history of any species those individuals 
which respond in suitable or advantageous ways to the stimuli 
brought to bear on them are selected from generation to gen- 
eration in preference to those not so responding, and in the 
course of time certain modes of action become characteristic 
of the species, even without the necessity of individual ex- 
perience. In other words the protoplasm has become so modi- 
fied in a series of generations that responses of a definite kind 
may be expected of it, which cannot be looked upon as in- 
dividually acquired habits. These are instincts and embrace 
many of the most interesting activities which have been men- 
tioned as characteristic of animals. The instincts of feeding, 
mating, and the like are examples. If instincts are in conflict, 
that which is momentarily the stronger prevails. In this possi- 
bility of situations arising in which the instincts are in conflict, 
or are unequal to a correct solution, lies the advantage of intelli- 
gence and choice based upon memory and reason, as adapta- 
tions whereby experience may contribute to correct responses 
to external conditions. Of the utmost importance in the devel- 
opment of intelligence is the introduction of imitation, of train- 
ing, of experience, of memory, of imagination — factors more or 
less represented in the activities of all the higher animals. It 
is necessary to remember that what we call intelligence does 
not arise suddenly in the animal kingdom and is not confined 
to the highest animals. Many of the acts usually spoken of as 
instinctive are not purely so, but are the results, in part of imi- 
tation, parental or social training, and individual trial and 
error, and are therefore to be classed as habitual or intelligent. 

167. The Dispersal of Animals and the Formation of 
Special Faunas. — In section 140 we see that every point occu- 
pied by the individuals of any species becomes, under natural 
influences, a centre of distribution from which the species will 
spread in all directions, unless kept back by adequate barriers. 
Thus we should expect all animals to be found all over the 
earth if all the conditions were equally suitable and all animals 
were equally adaptable to varying conditions. This, however, 
is not so. Species have unequal powers of adaptation to the 
different conditions and thus it comes to be that certain groups 



DIFFEKENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 137 

of species adapted to some special environment will be found 
together in certain regions, but will be absent from others. 
The total animal life of any region is known as its fauna. 

168. The Original Home of Animals, and the Sea-faunas. — 

There can be no reasonable doubt that animal life began in the 
sea and close to its surface, and probably not close to the shore. 
From this region the various nooks and crannies of the earth 
have been occupied, until now it seems that there is no place 
which does not have at least a few animals suited to its condi- 
tions. The fauna of the surface of the mid-ocean is known as 
the pelagic fauna. It is made up largely of protozoa; certain 
more or less transparent, free-swimming types of invertebrates, 
as worms, jelly-fishes, tunicates; many minute Crustacea, and 
fishes. The abyssal or deep-sea fauna contains representatives 
of all types of animals from protozoa to fishes, notwithstanding 
the darkness and the great pressure of the water. Many of 
the forms are highly modified, differing markedly from the 
corresponding species found in other life-regions. The littoral 
or shore fauna is the most varied, abundant, and interesting of 
the sea-faunas. Indeed there is no place on the earth where life 
is more abundant. This is true because of the wonderful food 
supply brought from sea and land and broken up by the 
waves, and the great variety of physical conditions at the 
meeting of land and water. 

169. Library Exercises. — What are the special conditions of each of the 
regions indicated in the preceding section, which are likely to be favorable or un- 
favorable to life? Illustrate more fully the typical forms characterizing each 
region? Find instances of the special adaptations which seem peculiarly advan- 
tageous to some of the animals frequenting each region. 

170. Fresh-water Faunas.— From the littoral regions of the 
sea, animals doubtless originally migrated into the brackish 
water of the mouths of rivers. Thus certain types came to 
inhabit the fresh waters of the streams, and as the result of 
the adaptations thus made necessary new species arose dis- 
tinctly different from their relatives which remained in the 
sea. The most of the branches or phyla of the animal king- 
dom have their fresh-water representatives, but very few 



138 ZOOLOGY 

species of the sponges, the jelly-fish group, and none of the 
starfish group have left the salt water. Some species of 
animals, as the salmon and eels, pass back and forth from fresh 
to salt water in obedience to their spawning or other instincts, 
but these are not very numerous. 

171. From the fresh-water fauna or from the ocean shore 
fauna have come those species which have acquired the power 
of breathing by means of the air. These embrace some worms 
and mollusks, the insects, and the vertebrates above the fishes. 
This adaptation, which is one of the most important acquired 
in the history of animal life on the earth, is assumed to have 
come about through successive mutations making possible the 
increased use of oxygen from the air as well as from the water. 
Progressive mutations of this sort were doubtless associated 
with periodic drying up of fresh-water basins, and gradual 
migrations to land. Several types of these terrestrial animals 
have achieved a more or less complete mastery over the air 
(aerial fauna) by means of flight. Chief among these are the 
insects, the first group to accomplish the task; a group of rep- 
tiles in early geological times; the birds; and a few mammals 
(as the bats) . Animals after passing from one region to another 
may in their descendants re-occupy their old habitat. Thus the 
whales and seals are air breathing mammals and are probably 
descended from land forms, but have now become aquatic. 
The same is true of some reptiles. Some birds have lost all 
their powers of flight and have become purely terrestrial. 

Other divisions of the continental and oceanic faunas into 
geographical faunas are made, depending on the climatic con- 
ditions and the geological history of the regions. The facts 
governing this division are too complicated for our present 
purposes. 

172. Distribution of Animals in Time. — This geographical 
distribution of animals on the surface of the earth does not 
come from modern conditions merely. Throughout all the 
millions of years that the earth has been reaching its present 
conditions and has been inhabited by living things, forces sim- 
ilar to those we now know have been at work. During all this 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND-ADAPTATION 1 39 

time, with geographic and climatic changes, the living things 
were changing both in their nature and their position on the 
earth. Thus during the various geologic periods, the distribu- 
tion and character of the life of one period determines the life 
of the next. 

All our knowledge of the life of the earlier times is gained 
from fossil remains found in the limestone, sandstone, clay and 
other strata of rock. Of course only the hard parts can be 
preserved, and only a small proportion of these are found in a 
form to give us much information. Notwithstanding, we are 
able to get from the strata a very fair idea of the progress of 
life on the globe. In the earliest fossil-bearing strata we find 
only invertebrate remains. The invertebrates have continued 
through all the successive strata to the present time, but in 
doing so they increase in differentiation and become more and 
more like present invertebrates. Of the vertebrates the fishes 
appeared first, then the amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and 
birds. None of these when they first appeared were like their 
modern successors. As we pass upward through the strata, 
old species become extinct and new ones, more and more like 
the species of the present, arise from them, presumably by the 
changes made necessary in becoming adapted to the changing 
earth conditions. In a general way the fossils of any age are 
intermediate — "connecting links" — between those of the ages 
preceding and following. In other words plants and animals 
have gradually been making progress toward present forms 
through all these ages. The study of this department of the 
adaptation of animals is known as Palceo zoology. 

173. Summary. 

1. It is necessary to consider the individual not merely as 
a group of cells and tissues but as a unit acting and being acted 
upon by all external forces and by other organisms. 

2. Characteristics derived from the germ cells of parents, 
whether resulting in similar qualities or in new ones, are de- 
scribed as hereditary. The reproductive cells are the carriers 
of ancestral qualities. 

3. Individuals vary as the result (i) of internal conditions 
and changes, the causes of which are obscure, and (2) of differ- 



140 ZOOLOGY 

ences in the environment. The environment may produce 
very important changes during the single life of the individual. 

4. The food supply of animals is limited, since all ultimately 
depend on plants; any species multiplying at its average rate 
of increase could in a short time, if unchecked, stock the earth 
up to its limits of support; that this does not occur is due in 
part to a struggle for food among the excessive numbers which 
are born, whereby only a small percentage of them reach matur- 
ity. In the main, those survive which possess some qualities 
which tend to fit them for the environment in which they find 
themselves. These are thus enabled to transmit their inherited 
qualities to their offspring, the fittest of which are again chosen. 
The result is adaptation, and the process is known as natural 
selection. 

5. A similar result is effected by man in domestic animals 
by artificially selecting individuals in accordance with the pos- 
session of certain inherited features. The resulting forms are 
frequently very unsuited to the natural environment, and could 
not survive if left to themselves. 

6. As the result of various causes animals become dispersed 
from their point of origin, and in becoming adapted to the 
different regions into which they go, or through variation 
within a given region, give rise to new varieties. When, by 
any means, these groups have become perfectly adapted to 
their new special environment and permanently different from 
their parent stock and from each other, without intermediate 
individuals which manifestly connect the varieties, they are 
recognized as new species. Through the influence of heredity 
and by natural selection these differences may accumulate, 
apparently to any amount. 

7. The nutritive function relates particularly to the con- 
tinued existence of the individual; the reproductive function 
looks to the continuance of the species, and is a tax on the in- 
dividual. Nature has specially favored those organisms in 
which an increasing degree of energy is given to the production 
and care of the young. Both in parenthood and in the struggle 
among the young nature sacrifices the individual to the welfare 
of the species. 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 141 

8. Animals become adapted to all the influences that tend to 
make or mar their success in life. The more influential upon 
living things the factor is the more certain the adaptation, 
whatever may be the actual cause and origin of the adaptation, 
because the destruction is the more certain in case of failure. 
The principal classes of adaptations are, — those relating to the 
using of the favorable and resisting the unfavorable features 
of the inanimate environment ; those assisting in the obtaining of 
food whether vegetable or animal; those of mating and care of 
young; those of offense and defense, in predaceous animals 
and their prey. The relations and adaptations range all the 
way from indifference to friendship, and from feeding at the 
same table on the one hand, to the utmost antagonism on the 
other. 

9. Perhaps the most important and the least understood of 
the series of adaptations which animals acquire are those con- 
nected with the nervous system and its functions: — the in- 
stincts, habits, and intelligence of animals. They are insepar- 
able from those already enumerated, and yet in fundamental 
importance they form a group of their own. They seem pri- 
marily to depend upon the irritability of protoplasm which 
enables it not merely to respond but to become permanently 
changed by that response — a kind of organic memory. From 
this fact acclimatization and adjustment become possible. 

10. In being scattered from their starting place, animals 
with similar powers of response and adaptation come to be 
located in the same kinds of conditions. This results in faunas 
more or less characteristic of all the important kinds of en- 
vironments: as marine, brackish water, fresh water, terrestrial, 
aerial, cavern faunas, etc. 

11. The origin of animal life was in the ocean, and from 
these marine types it is believed that all other forms of animal 
life have come, by gradual adaptation to their present mode 
of life. 

12. The various climatic zones of the earth and the principal 
geographical regions are characterized by distinct forms of 
life. For example, the lake life of Africa differs from that of 
North America, and similarly for all the various types of 



142 ZOOLOGY 

fauna. An analysis of such facts and an explanation of them 
belongs to the geographical distribution of animals. 

13. Fossils are remains of former plant and animal life pre- 
served in the rocks. We read much of the ancient life 
history by a study of these fossils. We learn chiefly that life 
started in a more lowly and more simple form than we now find 
it; that it has been getting more complex and more like the 
present with each passing age. What we find then at the present 
moment on the earth is not the result of present forces. It is 
the result of all the past. 

174. Topics for investigation, in field, laboratory and library: 

1 . What constitutes individuality in animals ? 

2. In what respects (enumerate) and to what degree have you ever noticed 
variation in a given species? In the offspring of a pair of parents? 

3. Have you ever observed any changes in structure in animals which could 
reasonably be attributed to change in environment? Give evidence. 

4. Does use or disuse produce changes in the organs of an individual? Why? 
Give illustrations. 

5. Enumerate some of the most striking facts of your own observation which 
illustrate heredity. 

6. Cite observed instances of groupings among animals of the same species, 
and determine as well as you can from your observations what ends are gained by 
the animals from the association. 

7. Make an effort to classify a series of objects, noting carefully your basis of 
classification; that is, the characters which you select in separating and grouping 
the individuals. The teacher can make this a most instructive exercise. A few 
objects of considerable diversity may be chosen, as sand, pebbles, shells, crystals, 
a plant, an animal, and the student may be required to examine each as fully as 
he can, write out the characters which he discovers as belonging to each, being 
sure that he uses a simple and observed feature in each statement. On the basis of 
these recorded observations let him compare and group the objects. Or take a 
large number of relatively similar individuals and, without stopping to write 
their characters, let the student place or distribute them in groups near or remote 
from each other in proportion to their unlikenesses, allowing intermediate forms 
to stand between. Afterward he may be caused to determine and justify his classi- 
fication and to see whether other classification could be made with a different basis. 
Gasteropod shells, illustrating varieties of the same and different species; beetles; 
butterflies; grass-hoppers; or even books of diverse shape, binding and contents 
:may be used. 

8. Can you suggest any cause for the loss of organs of parasites? Any 
.advantage? 

9. Cite instances from you own observation in which animals use the leap or 
;spring in capturing prey or escaping enemies. Why is it a peculiarly advantageous 
^adaptation ? 

10. Cite instances of the food-storing instinct, with all observed details. What 
is the most remarkable fact about them? How is it useful? 



DIFFERENTIATION OF INDIVIDUALS AND ADAPTATION 1 43 

11. From reading and observation would you say that there is any definite 
relation between the instinct for home-building and parental care? 

12. Study sleep among animals. What is its relation to rest? - Is it found in 
the lower animals? To what is sleep an adaptation? When does sleep commonly 
occur among animals? Why? Do plants show any -sleeping qualities? 

13. What are the principal geographical faunas recognized by zoologists. 
Enumerate the more important means by which dispersal of animals from one 
region to another occurs. What are the chief barriers to the dispersal of land 
animals? of aquatic animals? 

14. Study the different authors to which you have access, as to the significance 
of the terms species and variety (or subspecies). 

15. What were the older views concerning the "fixity" or invariability of 
species ? 

16. What are the different views of the "Origin of Species," as based on the 
views of the meaning of species? 

17. What is the essential difference between the theories of "natural selection" 
as stated by Darwin, and "definite variation," as explaining adaptation of organ- 
isms to their environment. 

18. What additional ideas are introduced by the ''mutation" theory of De 
Vries? What reasons does he give for thinking that natural selection is not a very 
important factor in adaptation? Bearing of Johanssen's discoveries upon the 
Darwinian theory? 

19. The bearing of Mendel's discoveries and the recent additions to these upon 
such problems as variations; species; mutations; natural selection; adaptation. 



CHAPTER IX 

A GENERAL REVIEW OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 

Before undertaking the study of the special groups into 
which animals are arranged because of their apparent kinships, 
it will be advantageous for the student to look briefly at the 
whole field of animals, — the "animal kingdom." See Fig. 66. 

175. Class Mammalia.- — Beginning with man himself it is 
easy to see that there are numerous animals (as the apes and 
monkeys; the various quadrupeds, as the horse, ox, dog, cat, 
bears and squirrels; the whales and seals; and many others) 
which differ much in general appearance from him but are like 
him in very many remarkable particulars. For example, they 
all (with certain exceptions) bring forth their young alive and in 
a more mature condition than is usual for other types of ani- 
mals, the young being carried in a special organ of the mother's 
body, often until development is well advanced. After birth 
the mother produces milk in special glands for the nourishment 
of the young to a still more mature stage. This is seen in no 
other group of animals beside the mammals. The skin produces 
hair or wool as a covering for the body. Man differs from the 
other mammals in certain particulars but not nearly so much 
as he and they differ from other animals. 

176. Class Aves. — Another well- developed but relatively 
small group of animals is the class known as birds. There is 
scarcely another class of animals so easy to distinguish at sight 
as this. They equal or surpass the mammals in specialization, 
but are very different from them. They are commonly recog- 
nized by the body-covering of feathers, the modification of the 
front limbs into wings for purposes of flight, and by the fact that 
the jaws are sheathed in horny matter and, at least in present 
day types, birds do not possess teeth. 

177. Class Reptilia. — This is a class recognized by zoologists 
which is not nearly so easy to define or to identify as either of 

144 



A GENERAL REVIEW OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



145 



the preceding, partly because the animals composing it differ 
more among themselves than in the other classes. It includes 
animals as widely different as snakes, lizards, turtles, and croco- 

Fig. 66. 



MAMMALS 




Fig. 66. Diagram showing the general relations of the chief divisions of the animal kingdom. 
The number of species belonging to each is roughly approximate, only. 

diles. The reptiles have some features which indicate that 
they may be distantly related to both birds and mammals, as 
well as to the next class. This is an additional reason why the 
group of reptiles is a difficult one to define. In general they 
may be recognized by the fact that their bodies are covered by 



146 ZOOLOGY 

scales or plates instead of hair or feathers. They always breathe 
oxygen from the air, as do birds and mammals. They usually 
have only three chambers to the heart whereas in the former 
groups there are four. The blood is not constantly warm as 
in birds and mammals. They lay eggs very much like those of 
birds. 

178. Class Amphibia. — In external appearance the members 
of this class often look somewhat like reptiles, and they have 
certain possessions in common with them, as the cold blooded- 
ness and the three-chambered heart. They are especially note- 
worthy from the fact that they begin life usually breathing 
oxygen from the water as fishes do, and later in life lose their 
gills, acquire lungs, and get their oxygen from the air, as do the 
reptiles and higher forms. Amphibians include the frogs, toads 
and salamanders. This is not a very important group in nature, 
but is intensely interesting to the student of zoology because 
it seems to be a connecting link between the air-breathing and 
the water-breathing forms. 

179. Class Pisces. — Fishes are cold-blooded animals charac- 
terized by the fact that they breathe by means of gills through- 
out life. The body is often scaly; the appendages are fin-like; 
and the heart has two chambers. They are beautifully adapted 
to life in the water and are easily recognized. 

180. Vertebrates and Invertebrates. — All the animals of 
which we have thus far spoken agree in certain particulars. 
They all possess a dorsal rod of supporting matter (notochord; 
see §349), which is often surrounded by cartilage or bone (the 
vertebral column). The nervous system in all of them is dorsal 
to this rod and to the digestive tract, and is tubular in char- 
acter. The heart is ventral to the digestive tract and the 
blood has red corpuscles. They are called Chordata (having 
notochord). This is the highest, best developed phylum of the 
animal kingdom. The five classes which have been mentioned 
are included in it. All other animals, with the exception of a 
few which seem intermediate in some respects, are classed as 
Invertebrates, and agree in general in the following facts : — there 



A GENERAL REVIEW OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 1 47 

is no notochord or vertebral column; the nervous system is 
chiefly ventral to the digestive tract ; the heart, when present is 
dorsal; and the blood usually has only colorless cells. The 
principal phyla of the Invertebrates follow. 

181. Phylum Arthropoda (jointed feet). — This is by far the 
largest phylum of the animal kingdom. It embraces crayfish, 
lobsters, crabs (Crustacea), which for the most part have gills 
and live in water; the Insects, as bees, flies, beetles, butterflies; 
etc., which usually live in the air and get their oxygen from it; 
the spiders and mites whose habits and appearance are somewhat 
similar to those of the insects; and the myriapods, terrestrial 
forms easily recognized by their elongated body composed of a 
distinct head and a uniform segmented trunk bearing numerous 
pairs of legs. Arthropods are especially to be recognized by 
the fact that their bodies are segmented, are bilaterally sym- 
metrical, and have paired jointed appendages to many of the 
segments. In addition to this there is an external covering of 
resistant substance (chitin). This serves for the protection of 
the animal and for the attachment of the muscles within. 

182. Phylum Mollusca (soft). — This branch of the inverte- 
brates includes the snail, clam and oyster, the squid and devil- 
fish, and their kind. They differ very much among themselves 
but agree in the lack of segmentation of their bodies, in the 
absence of paired appendages, — and in those types most 
commonly known to the student, in the presence of a shell 
of one or two valves, which is secreted by a fold of the skin 
called the mantle. 

183. Phylum Echinodermata (spiny skin). — These are easily 
recognized by the possession of five or more arms or rays in 
the adult stage. Usually a skeleton is developed in the skin. 
This is often covered with spines, and from this fact the phylum 
has its name. They are marine and are slow movers, — a few 
being fixed by stalks to objects in the ocean. The starfish, 
sea-urchin and sea-lilies are representatives. 

184. Phylum Annelida (Segmented Worms: with rings). — 
This phylum is similar to the arthropods in that the body is 
bilaterally symmetrical, is segmented, and sometimes has paired 



148 ZOOLOGY 

appendages on many of the segments. The segments are more 
nearly homonomous than in typical arthropods. The earth- 
worm, many types of aquatic worms, and leeches are included 
here. 

185. Unsegmented Worms (embracing numerous ill-as- 
sorted animals of doubtful relationship). Here may be in- 
cluded a number of small groups many of which were once 
classed with the Annelida and called "worms." They are not 
sufficiently alike to be regarded as one distinct phylum. In- 
deed there are probably three or four small phyla included. 
The majority of them are bilaterally symmetrical, unsegmented 
and without appendages. They differ from the mollusks in 
that they do not possess a mantle and usually do not secrete 
a shell. Many of them are parasitic. Among these animals 
of doubtful relationship may be included the "flat-worms," 
"thread- worms," the Nemertinea, rotifers, and others. 

186. Coelomata (with ccelom) and Coelenterata (hollow 
inside). — All the animals thus far considered possess during 
some stage of life a more or less developed body cavity or 
ccelom (see §58) distinct from the digestive tract. For this 
reason they are sometimes known collectively as Coelomata. 
All the remaining many-celled animals have a general cavity 
which serves both as a body cavity and a digestive tract (gastro- 
vascular cavity), — or to speak more exactly, there is no true 
body cavity. Of these the phylum Coelenterata is the chief illus- 
tration. Here belong the jelly-fish, sea-anemone, and corals. 
They are all aquatic and are more or less tubular, sac-shaped 
animals often attached by one end, with the mouth, which also 
functions as the anus, at the other surrounded by clusters of 
tentacles. Many secrete skeletons, and some form immense 
attached colonies. 

187. Phylum Porifera (pore-bearing) . — This group, to which 
belong the sponges, is sometimes classed with the Coelenterata. 
While similar to them in habit the sponges are much less highly 
organized and unified. Instead of a single mouth opening into 
the digestive tract, sponges have many openings or pores 
(whence the name Porifera) which are the beginnings of tubes 



A GENERAL REVIEW OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 1 49 

entering a central cloaca. This is in reality not a true digestive 
tract. It communicates with the exterior by one or more large 
passages. They are attached and often form large colonies by 
budding. 

188. Phylum Protozoa {first animals). — All the preceding 
phyla of animals consist, in the adult stage, of many cells among 
which there is more or less differentiation. In all of them the 
adult passes through stages in which the cells are arranged in at 
least two layers {ectoderm and entoderm; see §55), from which 
the tissue-masses arise. These animals are known as Metazoa. 
In the remaining phylum — the Protozoa — the animals are 
single cells, or at most, loose aggregations of similar cells. 
They are the lowest of animals and are for the most part in- 
visible to the naked eye. 

189. An Artificial Key to the Phyla of the Animal Kingdom. 

Many-celled animals Metazoa. 

With true ccelom : .Ccelomata. 

Possessing notochord (and often vertebral column), 

Phylum Chordata. 
Possess functional gills. 

Throughout life Class Pisces. 

In embryonic life only (with a few exceptions), 

Class Amphibia. 
Do not possess functional gills. 

Epidermal covering of scales Class Reptilia. 

Epidermal covering of feathers Class Aves. 

Epidermal covering of hair Class Mammalia. 

Without notochord Invertebrata. 

Bilaterally symmetrical (chiefly). 
Body segmented. 

Paired jointed appendages present Phylum Arthropoda. 

Paired, jointed appendages absent Phylum Annelida. 

Body unsegmented; without paired appendages. 
With mantle — often secreting shell, 

Phylum Mollusca. 

No mantle Unsegmented Worms. 

Radially symmetrical in adult Phylum Echinodermata. 

Without true ccelom. 

With a single mouth, which also functions as an anus: stinging cells 

(usually) Phylum Ccelenterata. 

With numerous incurrent openings or pores, and only one^— or few — 

excurrent. No stinging cells Phylum Porifera. 

Single-celled animals (chiefly) Phylum Protozoa. 



CHAPTER X 

PHYLUM PROTOZOA (Primitive Animals) 

Laboratory Exercises 

Without compound microscopes representatives of this Phy- 
lum cannot be studied with profit in the laboratory. The 
Amoeba is one of the most interesting of the Protozoa and serves 
well to illustrate the simplest forms of animal life, but large 
specimens in sufficient numbers for profitable study in an ele- 
mentary class are usually so difficult to secure. at the right time 
that it becomes a question whether they should be depended 
upon. Paramecium is much more available. Perhaps one of 
the surest methods for securing Amoeba is to chop up the soft 
parts of three or four fresh- water mussels, placing the pieces, 
together with the shells, in a large shallow basin. Allow a 
gentle stream of water to drip into it. This keeps the water 
slightly agitated, causes it to run over, and prevents an undue 
accumulation of bacteria. The addition of a little of the sur- 
face mud secured from the bottom of several streams or ponds 
will make the success of the preparation all the surer. Amoebae 
should appear at the surface of the mud, about the shells, 
or at the margins of the vessel near the surface of the water. 
Test all these places every day, and sooner or later the amoebae 
are practically sure to be found. Paramecia will probably 
occur in the same preparation. Any abundant Protozoan 
which may appear may be studied instead of Paramecium or 
in addition to it, by means of the outline below. In order to 
make clearer the habits of these organisms the class may well 
take part in preparing cultures. 

190. Paramecium. — This protozoan may be obtained 
readily by allowing fresh- water algae, with hay or leaves, to 

150 



PROTOZOA 151 

decay in water. This infusion should be examined every day. 
If the bacteria become too abundant some of the surface water 
may be poured off and fresh water added. The paramecia, 
which are just visible to the naked eye, appear as a whitish 
cloud in the water or may accumulate as a film at the surface. 
Often a sufficient number for study may be secured by scraping 
with a scalpel the matter which accumulates on the sides of the 
vessel just beneath the water surface, even when they are not 
sufficiently numerous to cloud the infusion. The cover-glass 
should be supported by sediment or by bits of cover-glass. 
Make outline sketches of everything which can be shown in 
that way. (See page 538 for statement of laboratory records.) 
I. With the low power of the microscope study the follow- 
ing points : 

1. Activities. — Describe, and figure as well as possible, the 
nature of all the movements of which the animal seems capable, 
using arrows to indicate directions. Can you distinguish an 
anterior from a posterior end? By what characteristics? 

Do you find any reasons for believing that the paramecia 
are sensitive to external influences? What evidences? To 
what sorts of influences do they respond? Do they avoid ob- 
jects? Do they collide with each other in motion? Do they 
tend to collect ? Where ? Are they as active at the end of the 
hour as at the beginning ? 

Make a new preparation in which the paramecia are uni- 
formly distributed in a drop of water. Place a very small grain 
of common salt at the edge of the drop. What is the result? 
Watch the individuals under the microscope as they come into 
the salt solution. On a new preparation, try similarly a minute 
amount of acetic acid (}{ to 3^ per cent, solution) applied with 
a capillary tube. Compare results. Try sugar; quinine. 

Do you discover any instances of division or conjugation? 
If so, describe. 

2. General form of the body. How would you describe 
its shape? To what degree is it capable of change? Is the 
body symmetrical ? Give evidences. Make diagrams showing 
your idea of a cross-section through the middle; also of one, 
one-third way from each end. 



152 ZOOLOGY 

II. With the high power, study, — 

3. Cilia: where found? Are they uniform in length? How do they act? 
What results do they produce ? (Place a small amount of water containing finely 
powdered indigo or carmine at edge of cover-glass. If the movements are too 
rapid a little gelatine added to the water will be of advantage.) 

4. Find the mouth, with the oral groove leading to it. Position and shape? 
How are food particles captured? Can you find them within the body (food 
vacuoles) ? How are the food vacuoles formed ? Do the food vacuoles move within 
the cell? If so, trace their course? What finally becomes of them? Evidences? 

5. Contractile vacuoles (clear spherical objects rhythmically disappearing and 
reappearing). Number? Position? Rate of contraction? Do they contract 
at the same time? What becomes of the clear material during the contraction of 
the vacuole? Are they deep or superficial structures? Your evidences? Does 
change of temperature cause any change in their rate of contraction? 

6. Distinguish between the inner mass of protoplasm (endosarc) and an outer 
layer (ectosarc). What are the characteristics of each as regards motion, clearness, 
firmness, etc. ? Note the changes in these portions on the addition of dilute acetic 
acid or iodine at the edge of the cover-glass. 

7. Discover, if possible, nuclear bodies. These are not usually recognizable 
without careful staining. Place at the edge of the cover-glass, in a fresh preparation 
of Paramecia, a drop of 5-10% aqueous solution of methyl green. Compare the 
result with a permanent mount stained by suitable methods (see Appendix: Sug- 
gestions for the Laboratory). 

191. Other Protozoa. — The pupils should examine stagnant water for as many 
types of protozoa as may be found. Compare these, noting the points of similarity 
and difference in general structure and activities. Especially profitable protozoa 
for laboratory work are the green flagellate infusorian, Euglena, which often tinges 
the water, or forms a green scum over shallow pools of water; the colonial ciliate 
form, Vorticella, found attached to submerged objects in ponds or pools of slowly 
moving streams in which there is considerable decaying organic matter. The 
colonies are easily visible to the naked eye. Stentor is a very large trumpet-shaped 
infusorian which may be alternately attached and free-swimming. It lives upon 
submerged sticks and leaves and may often be found attached to the sides of 
vessels in which such matter has been placed. In all such studies and identifica- 
tion of the protozoa the student should seek evidence of the unicellular character 
of the organism. 

Descriptive Text 

192. In this first and lowest group of animals, the individu- 
als of which consist of single cells or loosely associated simi- 
lar cells, we find something of the variety of shape which we 
observed in the tissue cells of the higher animals (Chapter V). 
The Protozoa are especially interesting to the biologist because 
they represent the simplest forms of animal life now found 
on the earth and because some of their representatives are very 



PROTOZOA 153 

like some of the simplest plants. Indeed some of them are 
claimed by both the botanists and the zoologists. It also seems 
probable that the first animal life to appear on the globe had 
the general characteristics of some of the Protozoa. Whether 
some type of ancient protozoan is to be considered as the ances- 
tor of the higher many-celled animals or not, it is true that we 
find illustrated here in the simplest possible way the beginning 
of all those functions which are so completely distributed among 
the special organs of the complex animals. The Paramecium 
does in a satisfactory way all that any complex living animal 
needs to do in order to live and perpetuate its species. 




Fig. 67. Amoeba, ec, ectosarc; en., endosarc, containing food vacuoles (/); n, nucleus; p, pseudo- 
podium; p. v., pulsating vacuole. 

Questions on the figure. — Define the various terms used in the legend above in 
describing the parts of the amoeba. What changes may the amoeba undergo in 
its life history? Compare with figures 2 and 7. 



193. General Characters. 

1. Mostly unicellular throughout life. If colonial, all cells 
similar and little or no division of labor. 

2. No true tissues or organs. 

3. The protoplasm usually consists of a clearer outer por- 
tion {ectosarc) and a more granular inside portion (endosarc) 
(Fig. 68, ec f en). 

4. Reproduction chiefly by fission, the resulting individuals 
occasionally remaining associated. 



154 




Fig. 68. Paramecium in optical section (semi-diagrammatic). A, anterior end; c, cilia; e.c, 
ectosarc; e.n., endosarc; f.v., food "vacuole"; g, gullet; N, meganucleus; n, micronucleus; o, oral 
groove, leading to the mouth; p.v., pulsating vacuoles in different stages of contraction; tr., tricho- 
cysts; v, food vacuole in process of formation. 

Questions on the figure. — In what sense is the term "vacuole" descriptive of 
the structures to which it is applied in Paramecium? Describe the special adapta- 
tions of the anterior end. Judging from their distribution have the cilia any other 
function than locomotion? In what way are the food vacuoles formed? Why do 
some food vacuoles appear lighter than others? 



194. Habitat. — Protozoa in their active stages require 
abundant moisture, hence they are usually found in N water, fresh 
or salt, and as parasites in the bodies of other animals. The 
Sporozoa are parasitic. Some amoeboid Rhizopoda infest the 
digestive tract of man and other animals, producing irritation 
and disease. The Infusoria occur in water in which there are 
decaying organic matter and minute organisms of various 
kinds. Volvox and Euglena, green forms often classed as 
Protozoa, have the power which green plants possess (photosyn- 
thesis) of building up carbohydrates from C0 2 and water in the 
presence of sunlight. 

195. Organization. — We cannot say that Protozoa have 
organs in the sense in which we have denned that term hitherto, 
yet they are certainly organized. The organization shows 
itself in the nucleus, in the distinction of ectosarc and endosarc, 
in the pulsating and food vacuoles, in temporary projections 
of protoplasm called pseudo podia, in more permanent vibratile 
projections of the ectosarc known as cilia or flagella, in the 
mouth — found in many forms, in cell-wall and secreted skele- 



PROTOZOA 155 

ton, in delicate intracellular fibres, and in stalks for attachment 
to objects (see Figs. 68 and 70). By means of these differenti- 
ations all the functions necessary to life are performed. There 
are many colonial Protozoa. In such (as Volvox) there may be 
some division of labor among the cells, — as between reproduc- 
tive cells and body cells (Figs. 72, 73). 

196. Nutrition. — The parasites absorb food, already di- 
gested and fitted for absorption? directly from their hosts. 
Most of the free forms take solid particles directly into the 
endosarc through permanent or temporary openings in the 
ectosarc. In some shelled forms, in which there is no mouth, 
the food is digested outside the body proper (Fig. 74) by the 
pseudopodia. These envelop the food and gradually transfer 
it to the main body of protoplasm through openings in the 
shell. In the other instances the digestion takes place in the 
body of the protoplasm. The enzymes found in the proto- 
plasm are doubtless responsible for the digestive changes and 
act in much the same way as the special enzymes secreted 
from the cells of the digestive glands in the higher animals. 
Circulation is effected by the general protoplasmic motion. 
Respiration, whereby the protoplasm gets rid of C0 2 and 
receives O, occurs largely through the cell surface without spec- 
ial structures. All projections of the cell-body assist in this 
exchange by increasing the area of the surface. Excretion may 
take place from the surface of the cell. It seems probable that 
the contractile vacuoles have both a respiratory and an excre- 
tory function. 

197. Movement. — The majority of Protozoa move freely 
in their medium. In Amoeba the motion is of a gliding character 
and is effected by putting forth processes into which the proto- 
plasm streams. The process or pseudopodium thus enlarges at 
the expense of the body of the cell and progress is had in the 
direction of the growing pseudopodium. The direction of 
motion - is changed by the formation of new processes in a new 
direction. In those Protozoa which have a cell- wall special 
devices enable the animals to move. Most of the free-swim- 
ming forms possess cilia or flagella, which act as oars on the 



156 ZOOLOGY 

water and thus propel them. In the attached forms contractile 
strands (myonemes) extend from the body proper into the stalk. 
Vorticella (Fig. 70) by this device may change its position with 
much suddenness. Attached forms are able to break loose 
from their moorings and become free-swimming for a time, 
later becoming attached again. Still other species are encased 
in shells and are almost or wholly destitute of the power of inde- 
pendent motion. Even the most active types may assume the 
non-motile or resting stage, by which they pass, uninjured 
through such unfavorable conditions as drouth, cold, and the 
like. 

198. Sensation and Behavior. — All the Protozoa show more 
or less sensitiveness to external conditions. They may be 
caused to contract and to move by mechanical stimuli such as 
contact or jarring, by chemically active substances in the water, 
by light, by changes in temperature, and the like. Vorticella 
and Spirostomum are exceedingly sensitive to contacts; Amceba 
avoids the light; many forms seem to find their food as the 
result of the chemical differences in the water and may be 
seen to swarm about suitable objects; the contractile vacuoles 
of many forms contract more rapidly in warm than in cold 
water; Paramecia tend to collect in groups at the edge of the 
cover- glass, around air-bubbles, about green filaments, or even 
without any foreign matter whatever. Many forms apparently 
lack special sensory structures and responses seem to be due to 
diffused protoplasmic irritability alone. In some Infusoria and 
some Mastigophora a special neuromotor apparatus has been 
found. 

On the whole, when protozoa are stimulated, their response 
is an advantageous one. That is it is positive, or toward sub- 
stances or forces that are favorable; and negative to stimuli 
that are hurtful. It is not believed that the protozoan is con- 
scious of these conditions. It probably means that they have 
inherited the tendencies which through untold generations have 
resulted in safety. Those with wrong tendencies have been 
eliminated. In this way, through generations of trial and error 
and by adjustments on the part of the organisms they have 
become adapted to the present conditions of life. We have no 



PROTOZOA 



157 



Fig. 69. 








B 
C 
D 
E. 

F 



K 



Fig. 69. Diagram showing nuclear changes taking place during conjugation (A-F) and during 
division (G-L) in Paramecium. (After Jennings; by the courtesy of Richard Badger, Boston.) 
The processes are identical in the members of the pair. 

Questions on the figure. — What happens to the meganucleus? Trace the 
behavior of the micronucleus throughout. In terms of the micronucleus, what 
is the result of conjugation? When does the new meganucleus appear and what 
is its origin? What conceivable values has conjugation? 

evidence that they learn by experiences They transmit their 
native qualities, but apparently not the results of accident, to 
the individual body. 



158 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 70. 



Fig. 71. 



n ft* rf 




3 



Pig. 70. A, Vorticella, a stalked ciliate Infusorian: 1, contracted; 2, extended. /, food 
"vacuoles"; g, gullet; m, contractile fibre (muscular); n, nucleus; 0, mouth, surrounded by ciliated 
disc; p.v., pulsating vacuole; s, stalk. B, a colonial type similar to Vorticella. 

Questions on the figures. — Compare the internal structure of Vorticella with 
that of Paramecium (Fig. 68). What are the principal differences? Likenesses? 
How is a colonial type (as B) formed? How are new colonies started? In what 
way does the animal become extended after contraction? Compare living 
animal. 



Fig. 71. A, Euglena viridis, a green flagellate. 1, typical swimming condition; 2, somewhat 
contracted, 3, spherical resting condition; 4, encysted stage in which fission has taken place, c, 
cyst;/, flagellum; n, nucleus; 0, mouth; p.v., pulsating vacuole; sp, pigment spot. 

B, Podophrya, a stalked Infusorian bearing tentacles (I), p, Infusorian captured for food; s, 
stalk. 

Questions on the figures. — How does multiplication in Euglena differ from that 
of Paramecium ? What are the differences in the method of feeding employed in 
Vorticella and in Podophrya? What is the structure and function of the tentacles 
in the latter? 



PEOTOZOA 159 

199. Reproduction. — In the Protozoa we discover methods 
of reproduction which are to be looked upon as suggestions of 
methods found in the Metazoa. Reproduction among the 
Protozoa is, primarily, mere fission or division of the cell-sub- 
stance. In some instances this division is little more than an 
irregular breaking up or fragmentation of the protoplasm. In 
others, one or more buds may arise from the parent cell 
(budding) . A more typical method is by the equal division of the 
parent into two new individuals. In still other instances, espe- 
cially among the Sporozoa, there is the formation of a cyst, 
within which the protoplasm rearranges itsel f in numerous small 
bits (spore formation). These finally break from the cyst as 
new individuals. In all such cases the old nuclear material is 
distributed among the daughter individuals. Fission, budding 
and spore formation are asexual methods of reproduction. 

At irregular intervals there may be a temporary (Parame- 
cium) or permanent (Vorticella) union of two or more individ- 
uals. This is conjugation. The essential thing in conjugation 
seems to be the introduction of new nuclear matter into the 
cell. The full value of this nuclear fusion is still in controversy. 
The conjugation-cells (gametes) may be alike (Paramecium), 
or diverse (Vorticella). 

Paramecium may reproduce for many generations by divi- 
sion, and then two individuals may conjugate (Fig. 69), ex- 
change certain nuclear elements, and separate, — beginning once 
more their process of division. There is here no sign of sexual 
dimorphism in the Paramecia themselves. It has been discov- 
ered, however, that the portion of the nucleus which passes out 
of each conjugant into the other is smaller than that with which 
it unites. 

In many Protozoa, as Vorticella and Volvox, there is the 
union and permanent fusion of the whole protoplasm of cells, 
distinctly different in form and size, to produce the new indi- 
vidual. This is much like the dimorphism found in the sexual 
cells in the Metazoa or many-celled animals, and illustrates 
heterogamy (see §101). Consult Figs. 7, 69, 73. 

200. History. — The existence of the Protozoa was prac- 
tically unknown until the compound microscope came into use. 



i6o 



ZOOLOGY 



A naturalist of Holland, Leeuwenhoek, first discovered the 
Infusoria, and thus opened up one of the most interesting 

Pig. 72. 




Fig. 72. Euiorina. A colony of 16 flagellate cells imbedded in a gelatinous matrix. 



Fig. 73. 




Fig. 73. Eudorina. The development of reproductive bodies within the colony from the 

ordinary vegetative cells (v). f, a mass of female gametes; in, a mass of male or motile gametes; 
/', a single female gamete surrounded by male gametes im') ; w, the boundary of the original colony. 

Questions on figures 72 and 73. — What suggests that this is a colony rather 
than an individual? What suggests the reverse? Compare accounts in other 
texts to test your conclusions. What degree of differentiation is shown among the 
cells? 

departments of zoology. It was not until the middle of the 
nineteenth century that the simple, unicellular structure of 



PROTOZOA l6l 

the Protozoa was really understood. Many of them can endure 
drying, and then take up active life again on the return of water, 
so that thereupon, in a few hours, Infusoria may literally swarm 
where none seemed to be. This is responsible for the long life 




Fig. 74. — A compound Foraminiferan — Nodosaria. a, aperture of shell; /, food particles 
captured by the strands of protoplasm outside the shell; n, nucleus; sh, shell. 1-4, the successive 
chambers of the shell; 1, being the oldest. 

Questions on the figure. — Does this seem a colony or a single individual? 
Why? Why is digestion possible outside the capsule? Compare this with figures 
of Protozoa in which there is no large aperture to the shell. 

of the old belief that they arose by "spontaneous generation," 
that is without parents. It is only in recent years that this 
belief has been finally disproved. It is known that they do not 
appear in water that has been boiled and kept free from ex- 
posure to the air. Much brilliant work has been done on the 
group in recent years, on structure, on behavior, and on their 
relation to disease. 

201. Classification of Protozoa. — The following are the principal classes of 
Protozoa 

Class I. Rhizopoda (root-footed). — Type: Amazba. The Rhizopoda are amoeboid 
in form with pseudopodia, which may be either blunt (Fig. 67) or slender (Fig. 74). 
The protoplasm may be naked (Amoeba) or may secrete a shell either calcareous 
(Foraminifera) or siliceous (Radiolaria) . In the shelled forms the pseudopodia 
pass out through openings in the skeleton (Fig. 75). Reproduction is usually by 
division, or by the formation of many spores. Encystment frequently occurs. 



l62 



ZOOLOGY 



Class II. Mastigophora {whip bearers). Types: Euglena, Chilomonas, Volvox, 
Trypanosoma. Active Protozoa which may be simple or colonial. They bear one 
or more large lashes or flagella. The trypanosomes are blood-parasites. 

Class III. Infusoria (in infusions). — Types: Paramecium, Stentor, Vorticella. 
Predominantly active Protozoa, usually without shell, but with distinct cortical 
portion from which project permanent vibratile threads of protoplasm (cilia or 
tentacles), from the possession of which the sub-classes are named. There is 

Fig. 75. 




Pig. 75. Aclinomma, a radiolarian with a shell and no mouth. A, whole animal with a portion 
of two spheres of shell removed. B, section, showing relation of protoplasm to the skeleton, c, 
central capsule; n, nucleus; p, protoplasm; o, openings through which the pseudopodia extend 
(Prom Parker and Haswell.) 

usually a permanent mouth. The nucleus is always present and assumes a great 
variety of shapes. The Infusoria are typically free-swimming, but many are 
capable of attachment by a contractile stalk, to foreign objects (Vorticella). 
Reproduction is normally by equal division, but budding and spore formation 
occur. Conjugation is common, and may be either temporary or permanent. 

Class IV. Sporozoa (spore animals). — Types: Plasmodium vivax, Gregarina. 
Protozoa predominantly passive in habit, parasitic, with no pseudopodia, and no 
cilia in the adult. Remarkable for encysted resting stages and spore formation. 
Conjugation often precedes the formation of the cyst. 

202. Place in Nature. — Protozoa are an important element 
in the food of many aquatic animals. Despite their minute 
size, their immense numbers and universal distribution make 
them important. Together with bacteria they serve to save 
for the organic world much decaying material which no other 
animals could utilize. The bacteria decompose organic matter 
and the Protozoa devour bacteria. They in turn become food 
for higher animals. We have seen that there are green forms 



PROTOZOA 163 

that manufacture their own food. Some live on debris, some 
are predatory, some are parasitic, and some are symbiotic with 
algae. Rhizopod shells dropping to the bottom of the ocean 
form the "ooze," — the chalk of later geological epochs. Other 
forms of limestone also are produced by the accumulations of 
these calcareous shells. Similar masses of the siliceous shells 
occur in various parts of the earth. 

Some of the Protozoa, especially the parasitic Sporozoa 
produce diseases in man and other animals. Malaria and 
yellow fever in man are caused by Sporozoa and Mastigophora 
respectively, in the blood. In both these diseases, species of 
mosquitoes are the cause of the introduction of the parasites 
into the human system. Texas fever, one of the most dreaded 
of the diseases of. cattle, is communicated through the cattle 
tick, in which the sporozoan producing the disease undergoes a 
portion of its life history. Trypanosomes, flagellate blood- 
parasites, are responsible for ' 'sleeping sickness" in man in 
tropical regions. Similar parasites are found in the blood of 
rats and other animals. 

Amoeba-like rhizopods in the intestine of man cause some 
forms of dysentery and other derangements of the tract. Sim- 
ilar organisms have been supposed to cause pyorrhea. Certain 
problematical organisms accompany small-pox, hydrophobia, 
and other diseases, though it is not known whether they have 
an active influence on the diseases. 

Pieces of such Protozoa as Stentor have been shown to be 
able to regenerate a whole animal, provided a portion of both 
nucleus and protoplasm are present, but not otherwise. This 
shows that each is necessary to the activities of the animal. 
Because they are lowly and simple animals, we must not con- 
sider that they are either unimportant or unsuccessful in the 
struggle for existence. Their wonderful reproductive power 
insures that they hold their own whenever the conditions are 
at all favorable for them. They occur in practically all the 
waters of the earth, increasing or decreasing as their food 
varies in abundance. 

203. Supplementary Studies for the Library. 

1. The reactions of Protozoa to light; to chemical substances; to heat;, etc. 



164 ZOOLOGY 

2. Their power of resistance to heat; cold; drouth. The practical results 
thereof. 

3. The economic importance of Protozoa. 

4. What is "plankton"? What is the importance of its study? 

5. Conjugation in Protozoa. Compare methods of reproduction and conjuga- 
tion in the various groups. Follow the nuclear changes in conjugation of Para- 
mecium. 

6. Why should Volvox and Euglena be considered animals rather than plants? 

7. Diseases in man or animals believed to be caused by the Sporozoa. The r61e 
of the mosquito in the life history of the parasites causing malaria and yellow 
fever. The life cycle of these parasites. The bearing of these facts upon infec- 
tion and the management of these diseases.. 

8. Various forms of the Protozoa of different classes as shown by the illustra- 
tions in the larger text-books. 

9. The varying form of the nucleus in different species of Protozoa. 

10. The history of discoveries relating to Protozoa. Improvements in tech- 
nique which have made these discoveries possible. 



CHAPTER XI 

PHYLUM PORIFERA (Sponges) 

Laboratory Exercises 

204. Grantia. — This is a marine sponge and in consequence 
the majority of schools will be compelled to depend upon alco- 
holic material. Grantia occurs along our New England coast, 
and is found attached to piles or to stones a few feet below the 
low-tide mark. If the school is near the coast the living sponge 
should be studied in a basin of sea-water. 

1. General Form. — (Keep in a watch-glass, covered with 
the preserving fluid.) Make careful outline sketches of every- 
thing discovered. 

Note, — the basal or attached portion; the column; the free 
end. How do the ends differ? Are there any openings? 

Do you find any connection between individuals (budding) ? 
Are these individuals of equal size ? 

2. Structure. — Split the body longitudinally with a sharp 
scalpel, and examine with hand lens or a low power of the 
microscope. 

Study, — body wall ; cloaca (internal cavity) ; the relation 
of the cloaca to the osculum (the opening at the unattached 
end). 

By what is the osculum surrounded ? Notice in the wall of 
the cloaca the minute openings of the radiating chambers. Do 
they communicate with the exterior? What are the functions 
of the osculum and of the pores? Evidences? 

3. Make thin cross sections with a razor, mount under cover-glass, and examine 
further for points in 2. Do both internal and external pores open into the radial 
chambers? Notice the spicules. Is there any regularity in their arrangement? 
What differences in shape and size have you discovered in the spicules from different 
regions of the body? 

4. Place a bit of the sponge in a small amount of a 5% solution of caustic potash 
and boil Examine under high power, and draw the differently shaped spicules. 

5. Place a bit of the sponge on slide and allow weak acetic or hydrochloric acid 
to pass under the cover. Note and interpret results. 

165 



l66 ZOOLOGY 

205. Comparison Demonstrations. 

1. Fresh-water Sponge. — In portions of the country where the streams are clear, 
swift, and with rocky bottoms, a fresh-water sponge may often be found which will 
be valuable to compare with Grantia or to substitute for it. It grows attached to 
submerged objects and is commonly of a dirty greenish color, though this may 
vary. This sponge is firm and gritty to the touch, and may be either compact or 
branched. Use the general outline prepared for Grantia, noting the points of 
contrast. Is there anything like the osculum? the cloaca? Gemmules or re- 
productive bodies may occur imbedded in the flesh, especially at the base. 

2. The Sponge of Commerce. — This is merely the skeleton of a sponge from which 
all the cellular part has been removed. Select a small rounded specimen. Do you 
find any signs of the attached end? of an osculum? Split the sponge with scissors, 
beginning with an osculum. Are there any canals as in Grantia? If so, what is 
their arrangement? Examine a small portion of the skeleton under the micro- 
scope. Test as before (for calcium carbonate) with dilute acid. Is the skeleton 
elastic ? Why ? 

Descriptive Text 

206. The Protozoa are unicellular animals, or at most, 
masses of similar cells in a more or less globular form. This 
condition is comparable to the morula stage of the embryos of 
higher animals (see §54). In all the other groups (Metazoa) 
the cells at some stage in development are in at least two 
layers, an inner and an outer or superficial layer, a structural 
condition which we have seen at its simplest in the gastrula 
(see §55). The exact position of the Porifera in the animal 
series has long been a matter of debate, but the great majority 
of zoologists agree that they stand below all the other Meta- 
zoa, presenting transitional features between the Protozoa 
and Metazoa. For this reason they are especially interesting. 
Some authors include them with the next phylum — the Coelen- 
terata. They possess two cell-layers, but the division of labor 
among the cells is not so decided as in the Coelenterata, and 
the individual cells are very much more independent of each 
other in consequence. 

207. General Characters. 

1. Porifera possess a system of internal chambers through 
which the water flows. The water enters by means of many 
minute pores at the surface, passes along radiating tubes (incur- 
rent and radial canals) to the central cavity (cloaca) and escapes 
through one or more larger openings (oscula) at the unat- 
tached end. There is no true coelom (see §58). 



PORIFERA 



167 



2. Parts are arranged about the central cavity but usually 
not in a symmetrical fashion. 

3. There are two distinct layers, dermal and gastral. These 
are separated by a gelatinous middle region in which are included 



Fig. 76. 



Fig. 77. 





Fig. 76. 



Leucandra, a simple type of sponge. (From Delage and Herouard; 
Concrete.") 



Traite de Zoologie 



Questions on the figure. — What is the position of the osculum? Which is the 
attached end? How many individuals are represented in the cut? 

Fig. 77. Diagrams to illustrate the development of one of the simpler types of sponge: I, the 
egg; 2. section of 16- to 32-celled stage; 3, section of later stage, a ciliated larva (blastula) ; 4, gastrula; 
5, section through older larva which has become attached by the end containing the blastopore. 

New openings break through by the coalescence and perforation of the two layers and a form 
results such as is figured in Fig. 78. a, archenteron; bl.. blastopore; ec, dermal layer; en., gastral 
layer; mes., mesenchyma; s, segmentation cavity. 

Questions on the figures. — What terms would be applied to the cleavage and 
gastralation in this sponge? What is suggested as to the mode of forming meso- 
derm ? The attachment of the sponges by the blastopore end of the larva necessi- 
tates what later development? See Fig. 78. Examine figures in other texts of the 
development in other species. 

cells of different kinds (mesenchyma) not in a true layer. In the 
cells of the dermal layer spicules are produced, forming the sup- 
porting skeleton (Fig. 79, C). 

4. Non-sexual reproduction is prevalent, • but dimorphic 
sexual cells are also formed in the mesenchyma. The sexually 
produced larva is free-swimming; the adult is attached. 



i68 



ZOOLOGY 



5. Mostly marine; wholly aquatic. 

208. General Form. — The simpler sponges are cylindrical 
or vase-shaped sacs with an opening (the osculum) at the un- 
attached end. From the central cavity {cloaca) of the sac 
numerous radial passages pierce the walls (Fig. 78), and 
terminate directly or indirectly in pores at the surface (whence 




Fig. 78. Diagram of simple type oi sponge, more mature than in Fig. 77. c, cloaca; ch., 

chambers, lined with flagellate cells; e.p., external pores; i.p., internal pores; tnes., mesenchyma; 
o, osculum; i.e., incurrent canals. Other letters as in Fig. 77. In the adult sponge the canals and 
flagellate chambers become much more complex than figured here. 

Questions on the figure. — What portions of the animal are lined by the dermal 
layer ? With the gastral layer ? What two main types of gastral cells are figured ? 
What is the actual nature of the mesenchyma in sponges? Is there a ccelom (a 
cavity bounded by mesoderm) ? What mechanical advantage do you see in the 
fact that the water currents enter by way of the incurrent canals and find their 
exit through the osculum, rather than the opposite direction? Compare with' 
Fig. 79- 

the name — Porifera). In the more complicated sponges there 
is such power of budding and lateral growth that there is 
formed a dense tuft of sponge made up of many individuals 
in organic connection with each other. In such sponges the 
simplicity of the internal structure is lost, and the cloaca may 
branch, opening to the exterior by a number of oscula. The 



PORLFERA 169 

passages which penetrate the wall become much branched and 
enlarged in special regions until the mesenchyma becomes 
honey-combed with the passages and chambers. No animals 
are more profoundly influenced by their environment, in 
respect to the special form which the individual or colony 
assumes, than the sponges. Individuals which develop in 
active currents differ much in bodily shape from members 
of the same species which grow in sheltered places. In all 
instances the form assumed appears to be correlated to the 
varied external conditions. 

209. The Structure of the Body. — In the typical condition 
the sponge consists of an outer epithelium (dermal layer) and 
its derivatives, an inner epithelium (gastral layer), and an un- 
organized middle region (mesenchyma). From certain unusual 
occurrences in the early development of sponges we are not sure 
that the dermal and gastral layers in them are homologous with 
the ectoderm and endoderm in the animal kingdom generally. 

The outer epithelium is usually of flattened cells. These 
cover the whole outer surface and line the incurrent canals. 
From this layer arise certain specialized cells which come to 
lie deeper and even to invade the mesenchyma. In the dermal 
layer are cells that secrete the hard parts, as spicules of lime 
and spongin fibres. In the middle region are amoeboid cells, — 
which ingest, store, and convey foods, — and reproductive cells. 
The inner epithelium, or gastral layer, lines the general cavity 
and the tubes and chambers which penetrate the body wall. 
In the cloaca the gastral layer is flattened; but in the radial 
canals it is columnar or flask-shaped, collared, and flagellate 
(Fig. 79, D). These cells by means of their flagella create the 
inward currents of water that bring food to the animal. 

In the mature specimen all these tissues are penetrated 
and supported by the spicules or threads of secreted skeleton. 
These may be calcareous, siliceous, or horny. The sponge of 
commerce illustrates the last. The spicules may be isolated 
and independent as in Grantia, or become fused into a continu- 
ous framework. But for this framework the otherwise soft 
animal would collapse into a shapeless mass and thus close the 
openings whereby water brings the oxygen and food. It is the 



170 ZOOLOGY 

form of the skeleton too which gives the characteristic form to 
the individuals and colonies of the different species. 

210. Nutrition. — The food of sponges is essentially similar 
to that of the single-celled Protozoa. It is carried in by the 
water currents, which enter the pores, pass along the canals 
lined with the collared flagellate cells into the cloaca, and from 
there reach the exterior by way of the osculum. The food par- 
ticles are taken up principally by the gastral cells lining the 
radial chambers and by the amoeboid cells which belong to 
the mesenchyma. In these cells digestion takes place as in 
Amoeba. The indigestible parts of the food are returned to 
the current and are eliminated through the osculum. There is 
no other circulation. The digested food apparently diffuses 
from cell to cell or is carried by the amoeboid cells. Respira- 
tion occurs through all the cells which are in contact with 
the water. 

211. Sensation and Motion. — Sponges are fixed and vege- 
tative in their adult life, and show very little of the more 
active functions. In. addition to the ciliated and amoeboid cells 
already described, the pores may be slowly closed in response to 
stimulus. Contractile elements have been described as occur- 
ring in the epithelium of these regions. It is uncertain whether 
there are any nervous elements. The oscula open and close 
under certain conditions, the flagellate cells work in unison, and 
their rate may be caused to vary by change of conditions. 

212. Reproduction by outgrowth or budding is common. 
In this way large colonies arise from a single individual. New 
colonies may arise, especially in the fresh-water sponges, by 
the separation of gemmules or groups of cells produced asexu- 
ally within the mesenchyma. These, after a period of rest, 
escape and produce new individuals. Sexual reproduction also 
occurs in all sponges. The ova and sperm are developed in 
the mesenchymatous layer. The male and female cells origi- 
nate from the same individual {hermaphroditism). Usually 
however the sexes mature at different times. 



P0RIFERA 



171 



213. Development. — Fertilization of the ovum and early 
cleavage take place in the mesenchyma near the incurrent 



Fig. 79. 



Fig. 80. 




^ynis. 



%%-^m^S 





Fig. 79. Diagrams showing the arrangement of the radiating canals in two types of sponges: 
A, Ascon type; B, Sycon type; C, a portion (*) of the latter", more highly magnified, showing char- 
acter of the three layers, ec, dermal layer; en 1 gastral layer (flattened layer) ; en 1 , flagellate gastral 
layer; e.p., external pores; /.c, flagellate chambers of the radiating canals; i.p., internal pores; mes., 
mesenchyma; i.e., incurrent canals; D, two flagellate cells more highly magnified. After Korschelt 
and Heider. 

Questions on the figures. — Trace the relation of dermal layer to the gastral 
layer in these two types? Compare these with illustrations in reference texts. Is 
there any way of accounting for this disproportionate growth of the gastral layer? 
What are the apparent functions of the flagellate, collared epithelium? What 
structures are to be found in the mesenchyma in sponges? 

Fig. 80. Axinella polypoides, showing numerous oscula. After Schmidt. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the principal external differences between 
Axinella and Leucandra (Fig. 76)? How many individuals are represented here? 
What are the grounds for your answer? Compare this with the skeleton of the 
sponge of commerce. 



canals, by means of which the spermatozoa find entrance. 
Cleavage is total and for the most part equal (see §53), pro- 



172 ZOOLOGY 

ducing an oval blastula which swims freely by means of cilia 
or flagella. While there are some peculiar features about the 
gastrulation, a gastrula or two-layered embryo is ultimately 
formed. Strangely enough it is the flagellate cells of the larva 
that become the inner or gastral layer of the adult. Conversely, 
the cells which in other Metazoa give rise to the gastral layer 
form the outer epithelium of sponges. 

The embryo finally settles to the bottom and becomes 
attached by the end containing the blastopore, which thus 
becomes obliterated (Fig. 77, bl). An excurrent pore breaks 
through at the opposite end, and the numerous incurrent 
pores are formed at the sides. The mesenchyma seems to 
be formed by special blastomeres or by cells which migrate 
from the other layers into the segmentation cavity, thus filling 
it. The gastral layer outpockets into the mesenchyma, estab- 
lishing connection with the ingrowing dermal layer, thus form- 
ing the incurrent canals (see Fig. 78). In most species the 
process is much more complex than that described here. 

214. Classification. 

The divisions of the group Porifera are made on the basis of the differences in 
the skeleton. Two principal groups may be recognized, as follows: 

I. Calcarea. — Sponges in. which the skeleton is composed of calcareous spicules. 
Laboratory type, — Grantia. 

II. Non- Calcarea. — Sponges with glassy (siliceous) spicules, or with horny 
(spongin) fibres, or with merely a gelatinous mesenchyma. Laboratory types: — 
the Venus Flower-basket; the fresh- water sponge; the commercial sponge. 

215. Ecology. — Sponges are chiefly marine animals, and 
flourish in all the seas and at any depth. The larger horny 
sponges, of which the bath sponge is the skeleton, are found in 
the warmer seas and in relatively shallow water. . The best 
ones are found in the Mediterranean, in the South Indian Ocean, 
and about Florida and the West Indies. By reason of their 
budding and branching, the sponges form immense colonies 
or beds, and many other forms of life associate with them in 
varying degrees in intimacy. Worms, Crustacea, and the 
larvae of many forms play hide-and-seek and burrow in the 
thickets of growth produced by sponges. In several species of 
crabs their shells may be covered by sponges, thus becoming 
less conspicuous. In other cases the sponges may protect the 



PORIFERA 1 73 

crab by their ill odor or taste. Sponges have no power of 
attacking any but microscopic organisms. They may, however, 
by their growth smother fixed animals like the oyster. Because 
of their harsh spicules or their unpleasant secretions they are 
rarely used for food by other animals. 

The horny skeleton of certain species, the "sponges" of 
commerce, is the chief contribution of the group to human uses. 
Fossil sponges, apparently of the same general characteristics 
as those now living, are found in very early geological strata. 

216. Supplementary Library Studies. 

1. Economic value of sponges. Sponge fisheries. Sponge "farming." The 
mode of preparing sponges for market. 

2. What arguments may be advanced for considering the sponges as colonial 
Protozoa? What is the conclusive argument for regarding them as Metazoa? 

3. By comparing the figures of sponges found in your reference books, note the 
different degrees of development of the passages lined with gastral and dermal 
layers in the walls of various species. 

4. In what special ways do sponges become adapted to the conditions in which 
they are situated? Effect of rapid currents on them? Of quiet water? Of 
muddy water? 



CHAPTER XII 

PHYLUM CCELENTERATA (Hydroids, Corals, Jelly-Fishes, etc.) 

Laboratory Exercises 

217. Hydra. — Hydras are small tubular animals found in 
permanent fresh-water pools, attached to submerged leaves, 
twigs, algae, etc. They are somewhat difficult to recognize 
when disturbed because they contract into small rounded 
masses, close against the supporting object. Promising ma- 
terials should be collected from several ponds, and placed in 
shallow vessels (a white- ware dish is good), and in a short 
time the hydras will become extended. The green hydra 
(H. viridissima) is perhaps more common and hardier, but is 
not so satisfactory for general laboratory work as the brown 
(H. oligactis), because it is less transparent. 

1. Study the living animal in a glass jar (tumbler). 

Is it free or attached ? What happens if it is freed from its 
attachment? Is it lighter or heavier than the water? Evi- 
dences. Can it move from one portion of the vessel to another ? 
If so, does it become detached ? Watch same individuals from 
day to day. What is its position in the water? If the vessel 
containing hydras be placed near the window for several days, 
at which side of the vessel do the animals become collected? 
When the animals are stretched out at their greatest length, 
touch lightly the tip of one of the tentacles. Touch the body. 
Repeat the experiment until you are sure of your results. Note 
and explain as well as you can the results. Of what degree of 
contraction is the animal capable ? Do you notice any contrac- 
tions or motions of parts, when the hydra is undisturbed? 
What seems to be the purpose of the motions? Evidences? 
Bring a piece of meat the size of a pin-head, or a Daphnia or 
Cyclops, in contact with the tip of a tentacle and note the results. 
How do the other tentacles behave ? Place a food-particle di- 

174 



CGELENTERATA 1 75 

rectly at the base of the tentacles. How is it swallowed ? How 
long does it take? What becomes of it? How long does it 
remain in the body ? Classify the results which you have at- 
tained, under the following heads: — motion and locomotion, 
nutrition, sensation. Devise still other experiments to test 
special points which you desire to know. Have you dis- 
covered anything that would lead you to think that their be- 
havior is modified even temporarily by experience ? 

2. General Structure. — Transfer a living animal to the slide, 
covering it with a drop or two of water. Observe with a low 
power without cover-glass. Draw carefully in outline everything 
discovered. 

Note body regions. 

Foot (attached end). 

Column. 

Tentacles, position, number (examine several specimens). 

Hypostome, surrounded by the tentacles. 

Mouth. 
To what extent do these regions vary in their dimensions 
during the different stages of contraction of the hydra ? Would 
you say there is any distinct symmetry? Which is the main 
axis ? Is there any indication of an internal {gastro-vascular) 
cavity ? What is its extent ? Are the tentacles solid structures ? 
Evidences ? Are there any buds in your specimen ? Relation to 
the parent ? To what extent do different parts of the body do 
different work ? 



3. Microscopic Structure. — Cover with a cover-glass supported by objects 
nearly as thick as the animal. Study with a higher power. Verify the points 
studied above. Follow the gastro-vascular cavity more fully. Is there an aboral 
opening ? 

Body wall. 

Ectoderm, or outer layer of cells. 
Entoderm, or inner layer of cells. 

Determine the extent of each layer. Are they continued into the tentacles? 
What differences do you find in the thickness of the layers and in the shape and 
character of the cells of each layer in the various parts of the body? Is there 
anything between the ectoderm and entoderm? 

In the ectoderm, especially in the knobs on the tentacles, find highly refractive 
oval bodies, the nettle capsules. Irrigate with a drop of dilute acetic acid, and 
watch the tentacle all the while. What changes have occurred in the nettle cells ? 



176 ZOOLOGY 

[A whole animal stained and mounted may be studied profitably in comparison 
with the preceding.] 

4. Histology from Sections. — By comparison of longitudinal and transverse 
sections verify your observations concerning the extent of ectoderm and ento- 
derm. What occurs between the layers? Study the shape and arrangement of 
the cells in both layers. Compare as to size. What is the relation of the nettle 
cells to the other ectodermal cells? 

5. Histology from Maceration Preparations. — Place a specimen in a watch 
glass, and draw away some of the water with a pipette. When the Hydra is well 
extended, pour over it an aqueous solution of hot corrosive sublimate. Rinse 
and place in Muller's fluid or 15% alcohol for 24 hours. Take a portion of the 
body and place on a slide in a drop of glycerine and water. Cover, and tap the 
cover-glass very gently with a needle. The cells thus become separated, and 
their shape may more readily be seen. Instructions for staining may be found in 
texts on histology. 

Study the nettle cells, the ectodermal cells, the entoderm, and the gland cells 
of the foot and gullet. 



218. For comparison with Hydra secure some alcoholic material of some of the 
marine hydroids, as Pennaria, Obelia or Campanularia, A few slides should be se- 
cured bearing whole mounts and sections properly stained. 

The following points should be studied briefly: Relation between individuals 
in the colonies, — branching. What classes of individuals are discoverable, i. e., 
how do the different branches end ? Is there any covering to the softer portions ? 
Tentacles; are they present? If so, what is their arrangement? Hypostome? 
Mouth? Is there a gastro-vascular cavity? Ectoderm? Entoderm? Give 
attention to polymorphism among the polyps or zooids. 



219. Metridium (Sea-anemone). — Using well-hardened and preserved speci- 
mens of sea-anemone make a series of cross sections from various parts of the body, 
with a thickness of one-eighth to one-fourth inch. These sections may be fast- 
ened to cards or to plates of mica by thread or fine wire and kept in preserving 
fluid. • One specimen should be split lengthwise, and one left whole. Four or 
five specimens could thus be used from year to year for demonstration. 

The following studies should be made. Make drawings to illustrate all points 
observed. 

1. General Form. 

Base, or aboral disc (the end attached during life). 
Column. 

Oral disc: zone of tentacles; intermediate zone; lip-zone; mouth; siphono- 
glyphs (grooves in the angles of the mouth), — number? 

2. Transverse Sections. 
Body wall. 

Esophagus; does it appear in all the sections? Siphonoglyphs? 

Mesenteries. How is the esophagus held in position? What differences 
do you find in the mesenteries? They are described as complete (or 
primary), and incomplete (or secondary, tertiary, etc.). 



CCELENTERATA 1 77 

Show by a diagram the number and arrangement of them, especially of the 
primary. Are they in pairs? Notice the inter-mesenteric chambers. 
Can you find the muscular thickenings in the cut mesenteries? Sketch 
their position. Compare with conditions figured in various text-books. 

3. Longitudinal Section. » 
Complete your study of the structures mentioned above. 
Compare the complete and incomplete mesenteries. 
Identify: 

Mesenteric filaments (on free edge of mesenteries). 

Genital glands (developed in the substance of the mesentery near the edge). 
Ostia, or ring canal; openings through the mesenteries by means of 
which the mesenterial chambers communicate with one another. 
Are the tentacles solid or hollow? 

4. General Considerations. 

Make diagrams in longitudinal and transverse view to show the distribution 
and connection of the cavities of the body. Is the mouth the only opening into 
the cavity? Describe the symmetry of the anemone. Is it radial or bilateral? 
Give reasons for your answer. 

220. Oculina (or other branching coral). — Study the branches and note the 
position of the polyps. Is the arrangement orderly? If so, describe. 

Note with a hand lens the arrangement of the septa, which grow between the 
fleshy mesenteries of the coral. Compare their arrangement with that of the 
mesenteries of the sea-anemone. 



Descriptive Text 

221. Some authors place the sponges and the ccelenterates 
in the same group on account of the typical barrel shape, the 
absence of a true ccelom or body cavity, the somewhat similar 
character and origin of the middle mass (mesenchyma), and 
the agreement of the principal axis of the adult with that of the 
gastrula. In the ccelenterates however there are no lateral 
pores. The principal opening serves as a real mouth as well 
as vent for the voiding of undigested matter, whereas in sponges 
it is not a mouth in any sense. In general the individual, even 
in the colonial forms of ccelenterates, is more distinctly an in- 
dividual than in the sponges. The division of labor among the 
parts and the interdependence of parts is greater than among the 
sponges. 

222. General Characters. 

1. A single system of internal chambers (gastro-vascular 



1 7 8 



ZOOLOGY 



cavity) in which both digestion and circulation occur. No 
ccelom. 

2. Parts radially arranged about an oral-aboral axis. Ten- 
tacles usually at the oral pole (Figs. 82, 85). 



Fig. 81. 




Enfcp- 



*• B 



&• nix. 

Fig. 81. A, Longitudinal section through the body of Hydra (diagrammatic). B, small 
portion of the wall more highly magnified. 6, bud; ect., ectoderm; enU, entoderm; /, foot; //., 
flagellum; g.t>., gastro- vascular cavity; to., mouth; mes., mesenchyma (non-cellular^; to./., muscular 
processes of the ectodermal cells; n, nettling cells; «\ same, exploded; nu., nucleus; /.tentacle; v, 
vacuole. 

Questions on the figures. — How many cellular layers are to be distinguished 
in Hydra? What differentiations are represented in the ectoderm in different 
regions? In the entoderm ? What is the relation of the bud to the adult? Why 
is the cavity called a gastro-vascular cavity? How is contraction effected in 
Hydra? 

I* 

3. A supporting layer or mass (mesenchyma) between 

ectoderm and entoderm, sometimes without cells. More often 
with cells of various kinds, derived from the other layers. 



CCELENTERATA 1 7 9 

4. Nettle cells in practically the whole group (Fig. 83). 

5. Nerve cells (sensory) and muscle cells present. 

6. Reproduction commonly by non-sexual methods, often 
alternating regularly with the sexual. Individuals of the 
two generations sometimes very different in appearance and 
habits. 

7. Wholly aquatic; chiefly marine. 

223. General Survey. — The Ccelenterata embrace animals 
very diverse in general appearance, which may nevertheless 
be reduced to two types. The first and most primitive is the 
tubular hydroid type. This is sessile and is essentially a gas- 
trula, at the unattached end of which occurs the mouth, usu- 
ally surrounded by tentacles. The cavity of the tentacles is 
continuous with the gastro-vascular cavity (Fig. 81). Of this 
type we may distinguish two conditions: (1) in which the in- 
dividuals (polyps) occur singly {Hydra), or if in colonies, the 
various individuals have the same form (as the corals); (2) 
colonial forms in which the individuals making up the colony 
are very different (as the Siphonophora) , embracing open- 
mouthed nutritive individuals, mouthless reproductive polyps, 
protective polyps abundantly supplied with nettle-cells, bladder- 
like supporting polyps, etc. (Figs. 86, 87). The extreme con- 
ditions of (1) and (2) are connected by forms possessing inter- 
mediate degrees of polymorphism. Though the individual 
polyps are attached, the whole colony may float freely. The 
second type is the active jelly-fish, or. medusoid (bell) type. 
The medusas, though varying greatly as to details, agree in 
having a shape comparable to that of an umbrella or a bell 
(Fig. 82, 6). The convex surface is normally the upper surface. 
At the margin of the umbrella are tentacles — often very numer- 
ous, and frequently much elongated. Iii the middle of the 
concave surface is a projection, at the lower end of which is the 
mouth-opening. The gullet leads from the mouth into a cavity 
in the central portion of the body of the bell (gastro-vascular 
cavity). From the central cavity radiating passages run 
through the substance of the bell to the margin where they 
may communicate with a circular canal which passes around the 



i8o 



ZOOLOGY 



bell near the bases of the tentacles. This whole internal cavity 
is lined with entoderm, and therefore no portion of it represents 
a ccelom (Fig. 82, 6). 




m«s. 



Pig. 82. Sections of types of Ccelenterates (diagrammatic) : t (longitudinal) and 2 (transverse) 
of a tubular hydroid; 3, Sea Anemone (longitudinal) ; 4, same (transverse, at the level of the upper 
dotted line); 5, same (transverse, at the level of the lower dotted line); 6, longitudinal or vertica. 
section of a Medusa; 7. transverse section of same at the level of the dotted line. The continuous 
line is ectoderm, the broken line, entoderm, and the stippled portion, mesenchyma. c.c. f circular 
canal; g, gullet; g.v., gastro- vascular cavity; m, mouth; ma., manubrium; mes., mesentery; mes. 1 
directive mesentery; 0, ostium; r. c, radial canal; t, tentacle; v, velum. 

Questions on the figures. — By a careful comparison of the diagrams what 
points of similarity do you find in these three types ? What are the principal points 
of difference ? Examine similar diagrams in other texts. Why is Ccelenterata an 
appropriate name for all. 



The bell is comparable to an inverted polyp in which the 
main axis has become much shortened, accompanied by a 
thickening of the body in the direction of the other axes. 1 
The gastro- vascular cavity is further modified by the increase 
of the mesenchyma of the aboral disc and by a union of the 
oral and aboral walls of the cavity in certain regions. The 

1 See Textbook of Zoology,' Parker and Haswell, 192 1 edition, Vol. I, p. 138, 
Fig. 102. 



CCELENTERATA l8l 

large chambers between the mesenteries in such forms as the 
sea-anemone thus become limited to small radial canals. 

Frequently both the tubular and the bell types are found in 
the life history of the individuals of a single species. The 
tubular colonial polyp produces, by asexual processes such as 
budding or fission, the bell or medusoid forms which are sexual. 
These may remain attached or become free swimming. They 
produce ova or spermatozoa, or both, and from the sexual 
union of these elements the non-sexual tubular polyp is again 
produced. This regular alternation of sexual and sexless in- 
dividuals is known as alternation bj generation. In some forms, 
however, the polyp has no corresponding bell (as in hydra; 
corals; sea-anemone) , and for some bells (as in some large pelagic 
medusae) there is no corresponding polyp stage. 

224. The nutritive processes in the Ccelenterata are marked 
by relative simplicity. Food, consisting mainly of small organ- 
isms and organic debris, is taken into the mouth, often with 
the assistance of tentacles. The tentacles' are frequently 
armed with numerous special cells in which are developed 
capsules containing long stinging threads, with poisonous tips. 
When these threads are discharged they may penetrate and 
paralyze small organisms. They are very irritating even to 
the human skin. In some types of nettling capsules the thread 
forms a cork-screw coil that may take hold of the hairs or other 
projections of the prey. They serve as organs both of defense 
and food capture (Fig. 83). 

Digestion and circulation both take place in a general 
cavity {gastro-vascular) lined iiith entoderm. In other words the 
circulatory function in this group is not differentiated from 
the digestive. In the colonial forms the gastro-vascular cavity 
of the various polyps in the colony may be directly continuous 
(Fig. 87). Thus a kind of cooperative "digestion occurs. In 
the medusa, the corals, and forms like anemone, the cavity is 
much more complicated than in the tubular hydroids, on account 
of the mesenteries. The entoderm seems to take up food from 
the gastro-vascular cavity, in part at least, by means of the 
amoeboid action of some of the entodermic cells as well as by 



182 



ZOOLOGY 



absorption. Pseudopodia are formed, and particles are. directly 
taken into the body of the cell. Special gland cells also occur in 
the entoderm, by the secretions of which the food undergoes 
changes preparatory to absorption. There is no anal opening. 
Undigested remnants are eliminated at the mouth. Respira- 



Fig. 83. 



— c 




Fig. 83. Nettling cells of Hydra (after Schmeil). A, unexploded; B, exploded, b, barbs; c, 
the nettling cell in which the nettling organ is developed; en., the cnidocil or "trigger;" cp., the 
capsule or nettling organ;/, the nettling filament or lasso; n, neck of the capsule; ««., nucleus of 
the cell. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare the parts of the nettling organ before and 
after explosion and note the difference in position. How would the barbs in the 
neck of the capsule behave as it is forced inside out by the compression of the 
capsule? Find from reference literature the nature of the fluid secreted on the 
inside of the lasso. 



CCELENTERATA 1 83 

tion — the exchange of carbon dioxide for oxygen — takes place 
by means of the individual cells of the body layers, though it 
may occur more satisfactorily in the thin-walled, more actively 
moving tentacles. Excretion is likewise a general body function. 

225. Motion. — All the Ccelenterata are supplied with con- 
tractile fibres or processes. Many of these are modified ecto- 
dermal or entodermal cells rather than true mesoderm (Fig. 81, 
B). The fibres run both longitudinally and transversely. In 
the more active types cross-striate fibres may occur. The 
attached (polyp) forms have well-developed longitudinal fibres 
in the body wall and the mesenteries, which enable the soft 
parts of the animal to be drawn close to the supporting object. 
In the medusoid types locomotion is effected by rhythmic con- 
tractions of the bell as a whole. By this means the water is 
expelled from the cavity of the bell, and the reaction forces the 
animal forward. 

226. Support. — The attached colonial forms (corals, sea- 
fans, etc.) usually possess a skeleton of calcareous or horny 
matter commonly secreted by the ectoderm. Each polyp con- 
tributes a portion to the common skeleton— the corallu.m. The 
corallum differs greatly in form in the different species. The 
particular form depends on the manner and rate of budding or 
non-sexual reproduction of the polyps, and the activity shown 
by the individual in secreting. In some cases single polyps 
produce a skeleton (cup-corals). The coral reefs of tropical 
seas are illustrations of the power of corals to form and excrete 
carbonate of lime. Much of the lime-stone of the earth's crust 
shows that corals assisted in its formation. 

227. Sensation and Behavior. — The nerve cells may be 
scattered diffusely over the surface of the body with a mesh- 
work of fibrils to connect them with the muscular and nettle 
cells and with each other, as in Hydra. In some other polyp- 
forms there is more differentiation of cells and fibres, but the 
elements are still scattered. In the more active types there is 
a collection of the cells either as a continuous ring, or in groups, 



184 ZOOLOGY 

in the tentacle-bearing rim of the animal. Associated with this 
collection of the nervous material into a kind of nervous centre, 
there are often special areas of sensory epithelium, or sense 
organs, developed from the ectoderm. It is not wholly clear 
what kinds of stimuli they are suited to receive although they 
are designated as "eye spots," or as "auditory" or "olfactory" 
pits. Otocysts (see §111) are found in the Ctenophores and in 
some medusae, and apparently function chiefly as organs of 
equilibration or perception of disturbances in the water. 

Experiments show that ccelenterates are sensitive to dif- 
ferences in intensity of light, to mechanical stimuli, to tempera- 
ture, to gravity, and to chemical stimuli. The responses may 
be local, as when a Hydra withdraws its tentacle upon a light 
touch or uses all its tentacles and the region about the mouth 
when stimulated mechanically and chemically by its prey; or 
general, as when it contracts body and tentacles completely 
upon vigorous mechanical stimulation. 

In addition to such responses to external stimuli there are 
in Hydra bendings of the body, wavings of the tentacles, and 
even contraction and extensions of the whole body that suggest 
"seeking" movements. Hungry specimens are more active 
than well-fed ones. All of this shows that even in the simplest 
representatives of the group there is effective nervous and 
muscular coordination. 

228. Reproduction and Development. — The occurrence of 
both sexual and asexual methods of reproduction has already 
been mentioned (§223). It is by non-sexual budding that 
colonies are normally built up. and a given locality well occupied 
by the species. By means of the sexual method dispersion is 
effected, and new regions are occupied. The ova and sper- 
matozoa develop in special gonads (ovaries or testes) derived 
in some species from the ectoderm, in others from the entoderm. 
The sexual cells usually escape into the gastro-vascular cavity 
and reach the outside by way of the mouth. As a rule the sexes 
occur in separate individuals. After fertilization cleavage is 
total but sometimes not equal. A blastula is formed which is 
often converted into a peculiar, free-swimming, ciliated larva 



CCELENTERATA 



l8 5 



(planula), consisting of a two-layered sac with no opening. 
This condition may arise by the closing up of an ordinary two- 
layered gastrula (as in Aurelia). In other cases the entoderm 
may be formed by cells budding into and finally lining or even 
rilling the segmentation cavity of an ordinary blastula (Fig. 
84), resulting in a quite similar condition. The planula after 
a brief free life becomes attached by one pole and becomes 
elongated ; a mouth surrounded by tentacles is formed at the 




Fig. 84. Diagrams illustrating development in some of the hydroid types. A, blastula in 
which the entoderm (ent.) is produced by proliferation from ectoderm (eel.), B, ciliated planula 
formed by the continuance of this process. A split in the entoderm furnishes the beginning of the 
gastro- vascular cavity (g) of the adult. C, more mature condition, in which the planula has become 
fixed: /, foot or attached end; 0, oral or free end at which the tentacles and mouth will be developed. 

Questions on the figures. — How does this blastula differ from the typical 
blastula in the formation of entoderm ? What is a planula ? Is a gastrula formed ? 
After an opening forms at the oral end what likeness is there in the adult to a gas- 
trula? What changes would C need to undergo to become essentially similar to 
Hydra? 



other. Thus it assumes the typical polyp form. In nearly 
all species the polyps may produce new individuals by buds 
either from the wall of the polyp or from special organs (stolons, 
or runners). If, when these are mature, they separate from the 
parent no colony is formed. More commonly the daughters 
remain in association with the parent. The medusoid in- 
dividual, — often of a very much simpler type than that de- 
scribed above (§223), — may be produced in a similar way from 
a bud. This sexual individual may degenerate until it is little 
more than a case for the sexual cells. It usually breaks its 



l86 ZOOLOGY 

attachment with the parent stock and, in the perfect medusae, 
becomes free-swimming. 

229. Classification. — The following classes of Ccelenterata may be recognized. 
Class I. Hydrozoa (Hydra-like animals). — Hydrozoa are ccelenterates with two 
cell-layers (ectoderm and entoderm),, between which there is a supporting layer 
(the mesogloea) non-cellular in structure. The reproductive cells arise chiefly 
from the ectoderm. The life cycle may consist of polyps alone {Hydra); or of 
medusae alone; or of both in one life history (Campanularia, Pennaria, Obelia). 
Medusoid forms may be free or attached. The gastro-vascular cavity is not 
divided by. mesenteries. Here are included all the rather scarce fresh-water 
ccelenterates, many tubular marine forms somewhat similar to Hydra, and the 
much diversified colonies of the Siphonophora (as the Portuguese Man-of-War, 
found in mid-ocean, especially in the region of the Gulf Stream). See Figs. 86, 87. 

Class II. Scyphozoa (cup animals). — Coelenterates in which the mesenchyma 
contains cellular elements. The reproductive cells arise from the entoderm and 
escape into the digestive cavity. Chiefly medusoid forms, though in some the 
bell-form alternates with a polyp stage. Types: A urelia and the larger jelly- 
fishes. The majority of the Scyphozoa swim on the surface of the ocean; some are 
found at considerable depths. Many of them are very large and handsome. An 
especially interesting fact in connection with the development of such a type as 
A urelia is that its polyp (known as the Scyphistoma) is intermediate in its charac- 
teristics between the polyps of the Hydrozoa and those of the Actinozoa. The 
Scyphistoma has four ridges which partly separate the gastro-vascular cavity as do 
the mesenteries in the Actinozoa. 

Class III. Actinozoa (ray animals). — Ccelenterates with only the polyp form. 
Cells in the mesenchyma. There is a well-developed ectodermic gullet (stomo- 
daeum). The gastro-vascular cavity is more or less completely divided into 
chambers by mesenteries. Sexual cells entodermal. A skeleton of calcareous or 
horny material often present. 

Types: Sea-anemones; sea-fans and corals. The sea-anemones or sea-roses 
are common on rocks and other objects just below low- water mark. Though 
attached, they have some power of gradually changing their position. Species 
of sea-anemones are known in which the individuals are as much as two feet in 
diameter, though polyps of the colonial forms are usually very small. 

Class IV. Ctenophora ("comb-bearers"). — The Ctenophora are free-swimming, 
pear-shaped jelly-fishes, never occurring in colonies, and not associated with a 
polyp stage. They bear eight meridional plates supplied with transverse rows of 
cilia, which function as locomotor and possibly as respiratory organs, and suggest 
the name of the group. There is a well-developed stomodaeum. The gastro- 
vascular canal branches from this and is much divided, one division lying under 
each row of combs. There are two small aboral openings to the digestive canal, 
known as excretory pores. The mesenchyma is well developed. There are no 
nettling cells as in the other ccelenterates; but glue-cells with similar structure and 
functions are found. (Some students of the Ctenophora place them in a separate 
phylum.) 

230. Ecology, etc. — The food of Ccelenterates consists 
largely of organic debris broken up by the waves, and of small 



CCELENTERATA 



l8 7 



animals and plants captured by the tentacles. The attached 
forms flourish best in the comparatively shallow water near the 
shore. Food is especially abundant in such regions and hence 
the passive animals are more successful here than elsewhere. 
Hydractina (Fig. 85) and even the sea-anemone form interesting 
partnerships with the hermit-crab. The polyps may cover por- 
tions of the shell occupied by the crab, while the polyps doubt- 
less profit by a share of the food broken to pieces by the crab, 

Fig. 85. 




-r. 



Fig. 85. Hydractina echinata, after Hincks, c, the cotnosarc, forming an incrustation over the 
object on which it lives; n, nutritive polyps; r, reproductive polyps, bearing buds in which are ova; 
/ , tentacles. 

Questions on the figure. — How many types of individuals seem to be repre- 
sented? What evidence of budding do you see in the species? What is the cceno- 
sarc? What is its nature in Hydractina? What can you find concerning the habits 
of the members of the genus? How does this colony compare with that in Fig. 86 ? 



as well as by the change of place as the crab moves about in 
search of food. Some anemones have living algae in their ento- 
derm cells which seem to help supply the animal with oxygen 
in return for foods of other kinds. 

Nearly all the ccelenterates are marine. A few species of 
Hydra, one parasitic form, Poly podium, and a few fresh- water 



i88 



ZOOLOGY 



medusoids are the only known exceptions. Cordylophora, a 
colonial polyp, is found in brackish tidal waters, and has been 
discovered in inland rivers. It seems to be a species in process 
of adjustment to fresh-water conditions. 




Fig. 86. Pkysalia, the Portuguese Man-of-War. After Agassiz. 

Questions on the figure. — For what is this animal remarkable? To what 
group of ccelenterates does it belong? Compare Huxley's figure of the same 
animal (see Parker and HaswelTs Zoology, Vol. I, p. 163, and other reference 
texts). What various types of polyps are represented in the colony? Compare 
with Fig. 87. 



The jelly-fish are used as food by fishes and whales, though 
they cannot contain much solid matter. The group has little 
economic value. The red coral of the Mediterranean, of very 
slow growth, is used in making jewelry. The reef -forming corals 



CCELENTERATA 



189 



have changed the land contours by additions of marginal reefs 
Much of the limestone of the crust of the earth is from corals. 

Fig. 87. 




Fig. 87. A very diagrammatic and generalized illustration of a complex ccelenterate colony. 
The shaded portion represents the gastro-vascular cavity. The light portion, the body tissues. 
b., a bell-like individual developed into an air-bladder; m., mouth; n.z., nutritive individual; p.z., 
protective individual; r.z. 1 , r.%.*, r. zJ, different types of reproductive individuals; s.b., swimming 
bell; t, tentacles, which are sensory and protective structures. After Lang. 

Questions on the figure. — What is meant by "generalized" above? How does 
such a polymorphic colony as this differ from a highly organized individual? 
In what respect is it similar to an individual ? What is the function of the gastro- 
vascular system? What is the gain in its wide distribution through the colony? 
How do the Siphonophora differ from the other colonial ccelenterates ? 



190 ZOOLOGY 

Many interesting experiments have been performed on mem- 
bers of this group to determine the power of regenerating lost 
parts. Many of the polyps have been shown to have this power 
and even the medusae may become perfect animals again after 
having lost very considerable portions of their structure. Hydra , 
one of the simplest members of the group, is most famous for 
its power of regaining its original form, even from very minute 
pieces. As long as there is a piece of the trunk of appreciable 
size containing both ectoderm and entoderm it may regenerate 
the whole animal, — stalk, mouth, tentacles, and all, — under 
favorable conditions. 

Nothing about the ccelenterates is more interesting to the 
zoologist than the way in which the individuals in the poly- 
morphic colonies (as in the Siphonophora) come to do the work* 
done by special organs in the higher Metazoa. 

231. Supplementary Studies, for field and library. 

1. Make a list of all the places where Hydra may be found 
in your locality. 

2 . Can you find an account of any other fresh-water Ccelen- 
terata ? 

3. What facts can you find concerning the power of regen- 
eration in Hydra or other ccelenterates ? 

4. Coral reefs: kinds and mode of formation. Conditions 
of life necessary to the reef -forming corals. 

5. Polyp colonies. Show, by reference to all the specimens 
and figures you can find, where the newest bud appears and 
how this helps determine the shape of the colony. 

6. Polymorphism and division of labor in polyp colonies. 

7. Corals in geological time. 

8. Sense organs among ccelenterates. 

9. Alternation of generation in Obelia. In Aurelia. 

10. The symmetry of the ccelenterates. 

11. The structure, position and uses of the nettling cells in 
the phylum. 

12. Study the polyp of Aurelia (Scyphistoma) from descrip- 
tions and cuts, and show in what respects it seems to stand 
intermediate between the Hydrozoa and the Actinozoa. 



CHAPTER XIII 

UNSEGMENTED WORMS (Flat-worms, Thread-worms, 
Rotifers, Polyzoa, Etc.) 

232. It seems desirable, for the sake of convenience and 
in order to prevent a confusing array of details, to embrace 
under this head a number of groups of animals which do not 
have very much in common except their place of uncertainty 
in the animal kingdom. They are not to be considered as 
forming a phylum. There is abundant evidence indeed to 
enable one to believe that four or five distinct phyla are here 
included. Some of these groups, however, have members which 
bear more or less striking resemblances to animals belonging 
to the recognized phyla, especially to embryonic stages of them. 
These facts render them of great interest to the zoologist, be- 
cause they furnish grounds for the hope that, through the study 
of this heterogeneous assemblage, the origin and kinships of 
the other phyla may be made clearer. The same facts make 
them unfit objects for extended study in elementary classes. 

233. Points of General Resemblance. — In external form 
these animals differ very greatly. They may vary from a 
cylindrical or even a globular form to a thin ribbon-shape. 
They agree for the most part, however, in having a main 
axis which in the free-swimming forms is usually horizontal 
in position, the anterior end of which is structurally distin- 
guishable from the posterior. There is usually a distinct 
bilateral symmetry (see §120) which takes the place of the 
radial symmetry found in the Ccelenterates. In some types of 
the Ccelenterates there are certain suggestions of bilateral 
symmetry but never to the complete exclusion of the radial. 
This is the most primitive group of multi-cellular animals whose 
individuals move with one end continually foremost and one of 

191 



192 ZOOLOGY 

the body surfaces continually up and the other down. This is 
a distinct advance in organization and accompanies a more 
active life. The Polyzoa are attached in adult life and have 
lost this symmetry, and many of the Rotifers, while having 
definite anterior and posterior ends, have lost their right -left 
symmetry in part, but their embryonic stages are in many 
respects similar to the more typical forms. By saying that 
these animals are unsegmented it is 'meant that in a distinct 
individual there is usually not a linear series of equivalent body- 
parts or metameres. There are however several types which 
reproduce new individuals by transverse division ("fission"). 
These new individuals may remain together, temporarily at 
least, in a chain, as in Microstomum (Fig. 91) or the tape-worm 
(Fig. 93), forming a strobila. In this condition there is a repeti- 
tion of all the essential organs in each of the ' 'segments." Some 
authors regard this process of strobilation as the condition from 
which the ordinary segmentation, as seen in the Annelida, has 
arisen, by the adhesion and gradual differentiation and coor- 
dination of the originally similar individuals. 

The animals of these groups agree in the fact that the third 
or mesodermal layer of tissue becomes established. They are 
therefore triploblastic animals. In addition to this the meso- 
derm often, though not universally, splits, forming a coelom or 
body cavity (§58) wholly separate from the digestive tract. 
The ccelom is lined with mesoderm. All the animal phyla 
above the Ccelenterates possess this character and on this 
account are called Ccelomata. 

These animals further agree with those above them in the 
scale of development in possessing a system of excretory tubules 
which connect the ccelom, or the mesodermal tissue if there 
is no ccelom, with the outside world. This system eliminates 
nitrogenous wastes. 



234. Laboratory Exercises. — An extended laboratory study of these groups is 
not necessary in an elementary course, yet enough material representing the 
various included phyla should be examined to enable the student to justify the 
separation of these uncertain forms from the more exactly defined phyla, and to 
show him how ill-defined is -the assemblage which we have thus brought together. 
The Tapeworm of man may sometimes be secured from physicians, and other 



UNSEGMENTED WORMS 1 93 

species of worms are found not infrequently as intestinal parasites in cats, dogs, or 
other animals dissected in the laboratory. The general form, the method of 
attachment to the host, the progressive development of the proglottides or "seg- 
ments," and the difference between these segments and those of the earth-worm 
should be noted. Permanent whole mounts of a mature proglottis may be made, 
showing the embryos in the uterus. Demonstrations of the structure of the pro- 
glottis may be given by properly prepared transverse sections, if the equipment 
and time allow. 

An hour's work may profitably be devoted to the study of some one or more of 
the common Rotifers, which may be found in water taken from the stagnant pools 
in which there is much decaying matter. They are microscopic animals and are to 
be recognized by the possession of discs at the anterior end, which present the 
appearance of rotating wheels because of a rhythmic action of the cilia. Make 
sketches showing the change of shape which the animal undergoes. How is the 
change effected? How is locomotion accomplished? What evidences have you 
of its ability to receive stimuli and to respond to them? How does it get food? 
Can you trace the digestive tract in the body of the animal? Notice the contract- 
ing object just back of the mouth. What conclusions do you reach as to its func- 
tion? Give your evidences. Verify by consulting some textbook. Can you 
prove from what you see that this is not a single-celled animal like Stentor? These 
specimens should not be considered as closely typical of the whole group of Rotifers, 
since there is very great variety of form among them. 

Planarians often appear in the laboratory in water containing an abundance 
of decomposing organic matter, taken from ponds and foul streams. The most 
important points to be noticed are their general form, the method of locomotion, 
sensitiveness to stimuli, and life habits. Asexual reproduction by fission is fre- 
quent among them. 

The Polyzoa occur as tufts of many minute animals in colonies attached to 
objects in the water. Plumatella is a rather common fresh- water form and makes 
a beautiful demonstration to illustrate the ordinary physiological processes, as 
motion, feeding, the action of the digestive tract in churning the food, sensitive- 
ness to stimulus and the like. Schools near the sea-shore will find an abundance 
of marine material for the comparison of the colonial forms of different species 
of Polyzoa, since they are more common in salt than in fresh water. 

235. Classification and Description. Phylum Platyhelminthes (Flat-worms).— 
In the worms of this phylum the body is flattened or compressed in a dorso- 
ventral direction, and from this fact the name is given. They are soft-bodied 
animals without any true skeleton. There is no body cavity and no true blood- 
vascular system. • The space which would be given to such structures is filled with 
a solid mesoderm. Through this body-mass run the minute tubes of the excretory 
or water- vascular system (Fig. 88, ex.), often terminating internally in special 
cells (flame cells, Pig. 90). These tubes have external pores. By means of this 
system of organs waste products, probably of a nitrogenous nature, are eliminated 
from the tissues. The digestive tract may be wholly wanting as in the Cestodes, 
or be a simple or forked sac, or a central sac with lateral branches. When present, 
it is blind, i.e., has only the oral opening. In the more complicated types of 
digestive tract the much-branched sac serves the function of carrying the digested 
food to all parts of the body. Many of these forms are parasitic and in conse- 
13 



194 



ZOOLOGY 



quence the organs referred to are often very much simplified and degenerate. The 
digestive tract, for example, may be entirely lost. Reproduction by transverse 
division is not uncommon. By this method strobilae or chains of more or less 
closely connected individuals occur (Figs. 91, 93). The sexual organs are ex- 
ceedingly complex, particularly in the parasitic members of the group (Fig. 94). 
The development is in some instances direct, in others indirect. The principal 
classes are the Turbellaria, Trematoda and Cestoda. 

Fig. 88. 




Fig. 88. Diagram of a Turbellarian, showing the general arrangement of the nervous structures 
and one of the modes of occurrence of the excretory tubules, which in this case open separately into 
the pharynx, on the ventral side of the animal, b, brain; e, eye-spots; ex, excretory canals con- 
sisting of a transverse portion passing from the mouth toward the dorsal side (see also Fig. 89) , 
and longitudinal tubes which branch into the capillary vessels terminating in/, the flame cells; I.e., 
lateral nerve cords; m, mouth. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare this figure with the next and identify the 
structures shown in both. What other positions of the mouth do you discover in 
the Turbellaria, as figured in reference texts? What other arrangement of the 
excretory canals and pores? 



Class I. Turbellaria {Planarians, etc.), — These are mostly small non-parasitic 
Platyhelminthes with a ciliated ectoderm. They are chiefly aquatic and are car- 
nivorous. The ventral mouth may be anterior, posterior, or median in position. 
It opens into a muscular eversible pharynx, which may be used to assist in locomo- 
tion as well as in capturing food. The digestive tract may be simple or very much 
branched. The brain consists of a pair of ganglia in the anterior region. From 
the brain lateral nerve cords pass backward through the body. The excretory 
organs (Figs. 88, 89) usually consist of two or more longitudinal tubes which open 
on the exterior separately or by a common orifice. The position of the opening 



UNSEGMENTED WORMS 
Fig. 89. 



195 



Fig. 90. 




Fig. 89. Diagram of transverse section of a Turbellarian through the region of the mouth. 
d.m., dermo-muscular wall containing longitudinal fibres; ex, excretory system; /, flame cells; g, 
gut; I.e., lateral nerve cord; m, mouth; m.j., muscle fibres; ph., pharynx; t, testis; «, uterus; y, 
yolk glands. 

Questions on the figure. — Determine with care the relation of this to the 
preceding diagram and identify the common structures. What new structures 
are represented here? What would be their position in the former figure? The 
great range in position of the muscle fibres and the spongy character of the body 
contribute to what powers? 

Fig. 90. Diagram of flame cell, the internal terminus of the excretory tubules, c, cilia lining 
the tubule;/, special cilia constituting the flame; n, nucleus of flame cell; p, cell processes; v, cavity 
formed by cell communicating with the capillary tubules (t). 

Questions on the figure. — What is the function of the cell itself ? Of the flame ? 

Fig. 91. 




Fig. 91. Diagrammatic sagittal section of Microstomum, showing a chain of four zooids 
produced by fission, b, brain of the original zooid (the exponents indicating corresponding struc- 
tures of the more recently formed zooids); c, ciliated pit; d, dissepiments indicating different stages 
in the separation of the zooids; e, eye-spot; ent, entoderm; g, gut; gl„ glandular cells about the mouth; 
m, mouth of the original worm. 

Questions on the figure. — What various evidences can be found of the relative 
age of the zooids? Is the mouth formed apparently from entoderm or ectoderm? 
Is the gut a blind sac? What incidents seem necessary when this chain separates 
at the oldest plane of division, and forms two chains, in order that each may be 
like the parent? How is this like segmentation in annelids (see Fig. 101)? How 
unlike? 



iq6 zoology 

varies very much in the different orders. The tubules are much branched 
interiorly and penetrate the soft tissues of the body as minute capillaries with 
thin walls. They terminate in cells of special structure which are excretory in 
function. A group of cilia (the flame, Fig. 90, /) helps in creating a current in the 
capillary tubes. The lining of the tube may also be supplied with cilia. Repro- 
duction is by division {fission, Fig. 91) or by eggs and sperm. The Turbellaria 
have remarkable powers of regenerating lost portions. Experiments show that 
very small portions of an individual will, under favorable conditions, reproduce all 
the parts of a complete animal. In habit they may be terrestrial, fresh-water or 
marine. They vary in size from microscopic fresh-water forms to a length of six 
inches or more in the case of the marine and land types (Figs. 88-91). 

Class II. Trematoda. — The Trematodes are small, usually parasitic, Platyhel- 
minthes. The ectoderm is provided with a protective "cuticle" and is conse- 
quently destitute of cilia. They possess a well-developed and often much- 
branched digestive sac, which has only one opening — the mouth. Usually one or 
more sucking discs are present. By means of these the parasite attaches itself to 
the host. The nervous and excretory systems are similar in general to those of the 
Turbellaria, but are somewhat better developed and more complex. In those 
members of the class which are external parasites there is usually no metamorphosis 
in the development. In the internal parasites, as the Liver-fluke of the Sheep, 
there is a complicated metamorphosis. A Liver-fluke (Fasciola hepatica) is found 
in the bile ducts of the liver of the sheep, where it gives rise to a much-dreaded 
disease — "liver rot." The eggs which are formed, fertilized and pass through 
the early stages of cleavage here, pass out of the bile ducts to the intestine and 
thence to the exterior. If the larva reaches water it develops into a free-swim- 
ming larva (Fig. 92, C), which to insure further development must bore into the 
tissues of a particular pond-snail (Limncea truncatula). It there develops into a 
kind of sac {sporocyst) in which a number of parthenogenetic ova are produced. 
These ■ ova develop into redics (Fig. 92, F) which escape from the sporocyst. 
These rediae, in turn, produce parthenogenetic ova which may develop into other 
rediae or a very different, tailed form known as a cercaria (Fig. 92, G). These 
cercarias escape from the snail into the water, ultimately encyst on damp grass, 
and are swallowed by sheep. The larvae find their way to the liver and develop 
there again into the adult fluke. It is evident that such a form must have im- 
mense powers of reproduction, when it is considered that the reproduction takes 
place at several points in the life cycle (Fig. 92, + *). This compensates for the 
great loss of life involved in changing from host to host. It is said that a single 
fluke may produce half a million eggs. The disease is prevalent only in those coun- 
tries where this species of Limncea occurs. It is much worse in wet years. Millions 
of sheep have died in England alone, in a single year, from the attacks of this para- 
site. Trematode parasites are common among animals and frequent most diverse 
organs. As compared with the Turbellaria, the Trematodes have lost their eye- 
spots, have less well developed sense organs and central nervous systems and have 
highly elaborate reproductive organs and metamorphosis. These facts are related 
to the parasitic habit. 



UNSEGMENTED WORMS 
Fig. 92. 



197 




Fig. 92. A series of diagrams illustrating the life cycle in the Liver-fluke (Fascinla). After 
Thomas, Leuckart, and others. A, egg in its case; B, early embryo, still m case; C, free-swim- 
ming ciliated embryo {miracidium); D, same after encysting in tissues of snail {sporocyst); E, sporo- 
cyst at later stage, producing from parthenogenetic ova redia (r) which break from the sporo- 
cyst and lead an independent life of their own in the tissues of the snail; F, a mature redia producing 
within itself new generations of rediae, and a new type of larva, cercarice, which escape by a birth- 
pore {b.p.) and make their way into the water; G, cercaria; H, same after losing its tail and becoming 
encysted; I, the young fluke in the liver of the sheep, where it becomes sexually mature and pro- 
duces perhaps 500,000 new eggs, b, brain; b.p., birth-pore; c, cercaria; cm., cell masses; e, eye- 
spots; ex., excretory tubules and pore (only the posterior portion shows); g, gut; m, mouth; pit, 
pharynx; r, redia; 5, suckers; sc, sporocyst. 

Questions on the figures. — In which stages are eyespots found? Number and 
position of the suckers? In which stages found? What is the result of increasing 
the points at which reproduction occurs in the cycle? Compare this with the life 
history of the tape- worm. Note the encysted stage by which it passes from water 
to its host in each instance. 



198 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 93. 



%- h 




Fig. 93. Diagram showing some stages in the life history of the Tapeworm (Tania). A, 
Cysticercus or Bladderworm stage, before the "head" protrudes from the bladder; B, same, later 
stage; C, Strobila, or chain of proglottides, many being omitted; D, embryo, such as fill the uterus 
of the mature proglottides. It is protected by a shell, b, bladder; ex., excretory canals; g, genital 
pore; A, head or scolex provided with hooks and suckers (s) ; «, uterus in a mature posterior pro- 
glottis; s, zone of budding or segment formation. The numerals show the approximate number of 
the segments, reckoning from the front. Not more than 5 per cent, of real length of the chain 
is represented. 

Questions on the figures. — What arguments do you find from the figure for 
considering the strobila an individual? What' for considering it a colony? 
Where does non-sexual reproduction occur? Where sexual? Seek figures of 
stages between D and A in the reference books. 



UNSEGMENTED WORMS 



IQ9 



Class III. Cestodes {Tape-worm, etc.). — The Cestodes are internal parasites 
having a complicated life history usually involving two hosts, sometimes three. 
In the tissues of the first host occurs the "bladder- worm," Cysticercus, or embry- 
onic stage (Fig. 93, A); in the intestine of a second host the strobila or adult tape- 
worm (Fig. 93, C) is found. The adult form has no mouth or digestive tract, the 
animal taking its food by absorption of the digested material in which it is bathed. 
The anterior end is supplied with hooks, suckers, or both, by means of which it 
attaches itself to the intestinal wall. Just behind this "head" is a region in which 

Fig. 94. 



gf. ^ 




/IS. 



Fig. 94. Diagram of a sexually mature proglottis of Taenia. A, anterior end; e, embryos; 
ex., excretory canals; g.p., genital pore; ov., ovaries (paired); r.s., receptaculum seminis; s.g., shell 
gland; *, testes; ut., uterus filled with embryos; v, vagina; v.d., vas deferens; y.g., yolk gland. 

Questions on the figure.— Why is self-fertilization possible in tapeworm? 
What is the function of the various portions of the reproductive apparatus? 
Trace the following steps and indicate where each incident happens: formation of 
eggs and sperm; passage of sperm to vas deferens and into vagina; storing of sperm 
in receptaculum seminis; fertilization in the oviduct; addition of yolk; ovum 
covered with shell secretion; passage into uterus where development proceeds. 



transverse division (Fig. 93, 2; and §126) is continually taking place. This results 
in the continuous formation of new segments or proglottides, the older ones being 
pushed further from the head by those newly formed. Each proglottis becomes 
in time a sexually mature hermaphrodite individual. All stages of sexual maturity 
are found in one strobila or colony, the posterior individuals being most mature. 



200 ZOOLOGY 

At the posterior end of an old colony the proglottides (Figs. 93, 94) are filled with 
the developing embryos, and on breaking away from the chain these brood cases 
pass with the fecal matter from the intestine of the host. In this way it becomes 
possible for the embryos to find the way into a new host. On being swallowed by 
some suitable animal they break from their cysts, bore through the wall of the 
digestive tract into the tissues. Here they grow, become encysted and at this 
stage develop the head or scolex which remains attached to the bladder-like cyst 
(Fig. 93, A, B). Development stops at this point unless the flesh of this host is 
eaten by some other animal. When this happens the bladder is thrown off, the 
head becomes attached to the wall of the intestine of the new host, and the active 
formation of the chain of proglottides begins again. 

The more common tape-worms of man are Tcenia solium and Tcenia saginata. 
The former is more common in Europe and is received into the system by eating 
the raw flesh of the pig, in which the bladder-worm stage occurs. The latter is 
obtained chiefly from beef and is more common in America. Only by adequate 
cooking is the danger of infection removed. The American habit of eating beef 
rare contributes to the spread of the pest. Other tapeworms infest, as their 
two hosts, the dog and the rabbit; man and fish; the cat and the mouse; the shark 
and other fishes. 

The excretory system is a pair of continuous lateral tubes with transverse 
connections in the various proglottides (Fig. 94, ex). The nervous system in the 
adult tapeworm includes a rather complex series of loops containing nerve-cells, 
in the scolex, with right and left lateral lines of nervous tissue running the length 
of the strobila. There are numerous longitudinal, transverse (circular), and dorso- 
ventral muscle fibres passing through the spongy tissue of the worm. There is 
a well- developed external cuticle. 

Phylum Nemathelminthes {Round- or Thread-worms). — Nemathelminthes are 
elongated, cylindrical forms which taper at the ends. The body is covered by 
a dense cuticle. Many are aquatic, but some are parasitic at least during a part 
of their life. An alimentary tract is present and has both a mouth and an anus. 
There is a ccelom which is not divided into chambers and contains a fluid without 
corpuscles. There is no circulatory system other than this. There are no special 
respiratory organs. The central nervous system consists of a ring around the 
esophagus, from which nerves arise at various points' and pass both forward and 
backward. The chief posterior nerve is ventral, but there may be also dorsal 
and lateral ones. The sexes are usually separate. Development is sometimes 
direct, sometimes indirect. The best-known representatives are the round-worms 
(Ascaris), different species of which are found in the intestine of man, of the 
pig, and of the horse; vinegar- "eels"; trichina; and numerous free-swimming 
forms. 

Trichinella is one of the most dangerous of the nematode parasites. The 
sexually mature worm occurs in the intestine of the rat, the pig, man, or other 
mammal. The young are retained by the mother in the uterus until well developed . 
When born the young bore through the wall of the intestine of the host and make 
their way to the muscles, where they become encysted and cause degeneration 
of the muscle fibres and often other acute symptoms of the disease known as 
trichinosis. The larvae remain in their cysts indefinitely or until the death of 
their host. For further development the flesh must be eaten. In the intestine 
of the new host where the cyst is dissolved the adult condition is quickly reached, 



UNSEGMENTED WORMS 201 

reproduction takes place again, the embryos migrate into the muscles and the new 
cycle is begun. The reproductive power of Trichinella is very great. It is esti- 
mated that an ounce of "measly" pork may contain 80,000 cysts of Trichinella, 
and that .each female produced from these embryos may contain at one time 
1,000 or more embryos. During her life she may produce ten times this number. 
Thus the 40,000 females from such a meal would soon supply 40,000,000 young 
worms for the infection of the muscles, with the ability of renewing the supply at 
short periods. Perfect cooking is the only sure safeguard against the possibility 
of infection. 

The hookworm, Necator americanus, belongs to this phylum and is a common 
parasite of man in the southeastern states. It has only one host in its life cycle. 
The adult worms attach to the wall of the intestine with a sucker-like mouth. 
The teeth pierce the wall and the esophagus works as a pump to extract the blood. 
From the mouth, secretions are poured that prevent the blood from clotting. 
This adds greatly to the loss of blood. One worm may thus make many wounds; 
and ia some cases more than a thousand have been found in one person. The 
female may produce thousands of eggs, but these cannot develop in the intestine 
of man. They pass from the intestine, and then hatch and undergo their early 
development in the moist soil. If they do not, at a certain stage, find their way 
back into man or some similar host they die. Possibly they may get back into 
the intestine on raw vegetables, but a much more remarkable way has been demon- 
strated. It has been found that they can penetrate the skin, and many of the 
poorer people go barefoot in these regions. The larvse bore into the capillaries, 
are taken with the blood to the heart and thence to the lungs. Here they bore 
into the lung cavity, pass up the bronchial tubes, through the trachea into the 
gullet and on into the intestine. It takes about seventy days from the time the 
larvae enter the skin until a new generation of eggs appear from the intestine. 
The effect of infection upon human beings is bloodlessness, weakness, deranged 
digestion and poor nutrition, abnormal appetite, and laziness. 

Prevention of infection involves stopping the miscellaneous infection of the 
soil by discharges from the intestine and protecting the skin from exposure. 
Drouth and freezing are fatal to the larvae. Recent investigations have shown 
that at least under some circumstances, certain domestic animals (pigs, chickens) 
play a part in disseminating the eggs and larvae. 

Phylum Trochelminthes (wheel-worms or rotifers). — The Rotifers or wheel- 
animalcules are microscopic animals. They usually tend toward bilateral sym- 
metry. The anterior end possesses a retractile disc supplied with cilia variously 
arranged, the rhythmic motions of which often give the appearance of a rotating 
wheel. From this the name of the group comes. This organ assists in locomotion 
and produces currents in the water by which food is brought within reach of the 
mouth. There is a digestive tract with both mouth and anus. The pharynx into 
which the mouth opens is provided with a chitinous grinding apparatus (mastax). 
Usually a pair of digestive glands open into the stomach. The nervous system is 
usually limited to a single ganglion dorsal to the pharynx. Eye-spots and other 
sense organs, called tactile rods or antennae, are present. There is a true ccelom 
communicating with the exterior by means of excretory tubules. For a diagram- 
matic view of these structures see Fig. 95. 

The sexes are distinct and are frequently very different in appearance. The 
males are often much smaller than the females, are much less numerous, and are 



202 



ZOOLOGY 



often degenerate. The summer eggs are of two kinds — large and small — and 
develop parthenogenetically. The large eggs produce females and the small, 
males. The winter eggs have a thick shell and are believed to require fertiliza- 
tion in order to develop. They rest during the winter and in the spring develop 
into females. Development is direct. The adult condition in the Rotifers sug- 
gests the larval (trochophore) condition in some Annelida. There are some traces 



Fig. 95. 




St-.~m.{! 



Fig. 95. Diagram of a sagittal section of a Rotifer, b, brain; bl., excretory bladder; c, cloaca; 
the common opening of digestive and reproductive organs; co, coelom; e, eyespot; ex, excretory 
canal;/, flame cells; /.g., foot gland; /*., foot; g, gut; m, mouth; m.f., longitudinal muscle fibres, 
mx, mastax; 0, ovary; ph., pharynx; s.g., salivary gland; t, tentacle; tr, trochus, or cilia-bearing disc. 

Questions on the figure. — What sets of organs and functions are indicated in 
the diagram? Does this seem a lower or higher form than the other types studied 
in this chapter? What are your grounds for your answer? What indications of 
segmentation are represented in the figure? Is the mastax in the stomodaeum or 
mesenteron? Where do the various authors classify Rotifers? 



UNSEGMENTED WORMS 



203 



of external segmentation in the tail or foot region in some species and for these 
reasons some authors class the Rotifers near the Annelida. Rotifers are aquatic, 
being more common in fresh water than in the sea. They are abundant in water- 
troughs, gutters, ponds. Some species are capable of resuming activity after 
having been dried up in the mud for a year or more. This power must be of great 
value in preserving the species as well as in spreading it. 

Phylum Molluscoidea (mollusk-like). — The two groups included here are quite 
diverse in general appearance and habit. They are probably not as closely, 
related as this classification would suggest. Their larval stages have more points 
in common than the adult. There is in the adult a variously shaped tentacle- 
bearing ridge (lophophore) about the mouth. The central nervous system con- 
sists of one or two ganglia about the esophagus. The Brachyopoda have often 
been grouped with the mollusks, but authors are agreed that much of the seeming 
resemblance to mollusks is superficial. 

Fig. 96. 











^^9fw 




p 


iLy 


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Fig. 96. A fresh- water polyzoan, Plumatella. From Parker and Haswell, after Allman. a, 
anus; fu., funiculus, a band of tissue anchoring the intestine to the body wall; g, ganglion; int., 
intestine; m, mouth; o, esophagus; r, reproductive gland; rt, retractor muscle; st, stomach; stat, 
statoblast; *, tentacles. 

Questions on the figure. — Is this an individual or a colony? What is the 
function of the retractor muscles? To what degree are the polyps capable of 
contraction as shown in the figure? The value of this power? What are the 
statoblasts? 

Class I. Polyzoa {Bryozoa; sea-mats; corallines). — The Polyzoa are colonial 
animals which resemble in general appearance some of the compound hydroids. 
The individual animals however are very different in their structure. They are 
found both in salt and fresh water. In Polyzoa (Fig. 96) the digestive tract is 
sharply bent, the anus opening close to the mouth either within or outside the 
circle of tentacles (lophophore). A distinct ccelom is typically present. There 
are no blood vessels. An exoskeleton is formed by the ectoderm, by means of 
which the individuals of the colony are held together. Each member of the colony 
may retire into its own particular portion of the exoskeleton, when disturbed, by 



204 ZOOLOGY 

the contraction of appropriate muscles. The brain consists of a single ganglion 
lying between the mouth and anus. The two sexes usually occur in the same 
individual. The colonies are formed by budding which takes place in each species 
in a way that is characteristic of that species. Thus it comes about that the colo- 
nies differ as much in general appearance as their individuals do in structure. 
Internal buds, resulting in statoblasts, commonly occur. 

Class II. Brachiopoda (arm-footed; lamp-shells). — Brachiopods are marine 
forms chiefly of geological interest, as there are at present only a few living species. 
They were very prevalent in early geological times. They possess a bivalved 
shell which suggests that of the bivalve Mollusca (as the clam). From this 
external resemblance they have long been classed as mollusks. The valves are 
strictly dorsal and ventral in the Brachiopods, however; whereas in the mollusks 
they are right and left. Their shell is therefore no longer considered as homologous 
with the mollusk shell. The internal structure is still further removed from that 
of the clam. The digestive tract is often bent much as in the Polyzoa, and the 
mouth is surrounded by a tentacle-bearing lophophore (the "arms"). The 
lophophore may have a skeletal support which in different types assumes different 
shapes (loop, helix, or spiral). A peduncle usually extrudes at the hinge, by means 
of which the animal attaches itself to foreign objects. The Brachiopods are not 
colonial. The student is referred to the more extended texts for illustrations of 
this group of animals. 

236 Some Forms of Doubtful Relationship. — The old group "Vermes," or 
worms, has in recent years had several fairly definite phyla removed from it. 
Clearest among these is the phylum Annulata or segmented worms (Ch. XV). 
More recently the Phyla Platyhelminthes, Nemathelminthes, Trochelminthes, 
and Molluscoidea have been recognized by many students. In this old waste- 
basket of worm-like animals are still the raw-materials for several more phyla 
when we learn enough about them to distinguish them. None of these groups 
is numerous in species, or of much economic or human interest. They cannot 
receive much attention in an elementary course. Among them are: 

1. Mesozoa, which are simple, parasitic forms less complex even than the diplo- 
blastic animals. It has been thought that they are intermediate between Protozoa 
and Metazoa. 

2. Nemertinea, similar in some ways to flat worms. They are peculiar in de- 
velopment, and have some systems of organs better developed than other un- 
segmented worms. They live in water, chiefly salt, and in moist earth. Some 
attain a length of ninety feet. They are slender and usually flattened. 

3. Acanthocephala, spine-headed parasites sometimes classed with the nema- 
todes. Found in many vertebrates. 

4. Chcetognatha, which includes Sagitta, the arrow-worm. Free-swimming 
marine animals, sometimes placed near the segmented worms. 

5. Gephyrea, marine worms living in sand or mud, unsegmented with large 
body cavity, and protrusible proboscis. The sipunculids are the best known 
representatives. 

The student is asked to seek figures of some of these rarer types in the larger 
texts, and notice the various ways in which they are classified. 

237. Notes on Ecology and Distribution. — The organisim 
included in this chapter represent the most varied modes of life. 



UNSEGMENTED WORMS 205 

The Turbellarians are free living animals and may be terrestrial, 
fresh- water or marine ; the Rotifers are as a rule free-swimming 
and occur chiefly in fresh water; the Polyzoa are aquatic, 
attached, colonial forms but lead for the most part an independ- 
ent existence, or may occasionally be commensal with other 
types of animals; the Brachiopods are marine and may be 
attached, but are not colonial; the Trematodes and Cestodes 
represent all kinds and degrees of parasitism. Even if all 
these classes of animals could be considered akin, their habits 
of life and their consequent adaptations are so various as to 
produce the greatest range of general form and special structure. 
If we consider the relatively small number of species of 
animals in these groups, the species of the Platyhelminthes are 
among the most widely distributed of the Metazoa. This is 
true both of the free Turbellaria and Nematoda and the para- 
sitic Trematoda and Cestoda. There is probably not a large 
species of the higher Metazoa which escapes being the host of 
one or more of these worms at some stage of its life history. 
The fact of parasitism, the ability to carry on the life cycle in a 
series of hosts, and the prevalence of the carnivorous habit 
among its hosts all help the distribution. The organs more 
commonly infested by the parasites are the digestive tube, the 
blood and lymphatic vessels, the ccelomic cavity or other 
organs where the nutritive fluids of the body are abundant. 
They produce all sorts of disorders from mere functional dis- 
turbance (such as digestive disorders and anaemia from the 
presence of the tape-worm) to the destruction of the tissues of 
the organs involved. It is very commonly true that the adult 
or sexually mature individuals are produced in one host, and 
the eggs or larvae produced by them find their way into another 
species of host where a portion of the development toward 
maturity occurs. The transfer of the parasite from the second 
back to the first host-species is necessary to complete the cycle. 
In size the unsegmented worms vary from minute microscopic 
dimensions to thirty feet in length in the tape-worm, Diphyllo- 
bothrium latum. Some suggestion of their importance to man 
and the higher animals may be gathered by reference to the 
following table (p. 206). 



206 



ZOOLOGY 














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UNSEGMENTED WORMS 207 

238. Supplementary Studies for the Library. 

1. In what different ways are the forms included in this 
chapter classified in the various textbooks to which you have 
access ? 

2. Consider the economic importance of the parasites in- 
cluded in this chapter. 

3 . Make a further study of the life histories of selected repre- 
sentatives of these parasites. 

4. Illustrate by means of the unsegmented worms the de- 
generation and simplification which attends parasitism. 

5. In what various ways do the intestinal parasites in the 
group adhere to the walls of the digestive tract of the host ? 

6. Do you think the domestic animals are more or less likely 
to be attacked and suffer from these internal parasites than the 
wild ? What evidences would you offer for your view ? 

7. Prepare for the class a diagram of the reproductive organs 
in the Tape-worm, indicating the function of each of the por- 
tions. 

8. What is meant by the "dermo-muscular" sac in worms? 
Its functions ? 

9. Report on the importance of the Brachiopods in early 
geological time, with the main structural features of the class. 



CHAPTER XIV 

PHYLUM ECHINODERMATA (Starfish, Sea-urchins, Sand- 
dollars, Sea-lilies) 

Laboratory Exercises 

239. Asterias (Starfish). — Both dry and alcoholic, or other- 
wise preserved, materials should be at hand. 

1. General form. 

Central disc. 

Rays; number, form, size, etc. Compare several in- 
dividuals. 

Oral surface (contains mouth); aboral surface. Note 
the general differences between these surfaces both 
in the arms and the disc. 

The axis of an arm is known as a radius; the space be- 
tween is interradial. 

Is the body bilaterally symmetrical or radially sym- 
metrical ? Give the reasons for your conclusion. 

2. External anatomy. 
Oral surface. 

Mouth : position and surroundings. 

Ambulacral groove: position, relation to the mouth, 

extent. 
Ambulacral feet: how arranged? Is the foot hollow 

or solid? Pull off one, and examine with lens or 

low power of the microscope. . 
Aboral surface. 

Madreporic body: position (radial or interradial?), 

shape, size, structure. 
Bivium; trivium (see text, §243). 
Examine the spines on both surfaces and determine 

the arrangement and shape in different regions. 

How are they fixed to the body ? 
Pedicellariae (at the base of the spines); papulae (soft 

bodies among the spines). Examine with lens. 
208 



ECHINODERMATA 209 

Make an outline drawing of each surface, filling in the de- 
tails of the disc and one arm and showing the points above de- 
termined. Sketch one of each of the various classes of spines 
in profile. 

3. Organs of the body cavity. 

Using alcoholic or other moist preparations, cut into one side of an arm of the 
trivium, making an incision from near the tip almost to the disc. Cut across the 
back of the arm near the tip and make a similar incision on the other side. Lift 
the flap thus separated and notice the organs attached to it. The material should 
be dissected under water or 50 per cent, alcohol, or kept moistened therewith. 
Hepatic caeca; extent, number, and attachment. 

Detach the hepatic caeca from the aboral wall by breaking the mesenteries, 
and treat all the arms of the trivium as above. 

Carefully connect the incisions across the interradii and remove the entire 
aboral wall except that around the madreporic body and that between it and the 
centre of the disc, being careful to disturb none of the soft parts. A few good, 
permanent dissections, to be used as demonstrations, will be of value. 
Notice: 

Body cavity, its extent and contents. 

Stomach: pyloric (aboral) portion; shape, position. Are the hepatic 

caeca connected with it? Verify. (The stomach opens aborally into a 

small, short rectum and anus usually very difficult of demonstration.) 

Rectal diverticula? number and position? 

Cardiac (oral) portion of stomach; pouches, number and form; retractor 

muscles, attached to the floor of the arms. 
Mouth; peristome. 

Remove the hepatic caeca from one arm and find the genital glands which 
lie in the floor of the body cavity. What is their number and arrange- 
ment? At what point do they connect with the body wall? Can you 
prove that they communicate with the exterior? 
Ampullae (on ventral floor): determine if they connect with ambulacra 

feet. 
Make three diagrams showing the position of the organs thus far studied: 
(1) the aboral surface with the wall removed, showing the stomach in 
the disc, the hepatic caeca in one arm, the reproductive bodies in a 
second, and the ampullae and retractor muscles in a third; (2) a trans- 
verse section of an arm about midway between its ends; and (3) a sagittal 
section of an arm continued through the disc. 

4. Ambulacral system. 

In a specimen from which the preceding organs have been removed, make a 
transverse section of an arm about an inch from the disc. - Find the radial water 
canal, a small tube lying just outside the skeleton in the ambulacral groove. Force 
air into it with a blow-pipe, or inject a colored solution with a hypodermic syringe. 
What other structures are affected? Trace connection between radial canal, 
ampulla, and ambulacral feet. Compare the number of ampullae and the number 
of feet. Follow the radial canal toward the disc. How does it terminate? 

From the madreporic body trace the S-shaped stone canal toward the oral 
surface. How does it terminate? 
14 



210 ZOOLOGY 

Ring canal: its position. Are there any other structures (sacs) in communi- 
cation with the circum-oral ring-canal beside the stone canal and the radial water- 
tubes? form and position? 

5. Nervous system. 

There is a radial nerve (in the skin) superficial to the radial water canal in each 
arm. This may be demonstrated by a stained microtome transverse section of 
the arm of a young starfish. The radial nerves unite to form a circumoral nerve 
ring. 

6. Skeletal parts. 

Dried material and portions soaked for a few days in a 10 per cent, solution of 
potassium hydroxide should be used to supplement the alcoholic specimens. 

Is the skeleton complete, i.e., are the ossicles in contact? 

Are they similarly arranged on the aboral and oral surfaces? Which sur- 
face shows the greater differentiation? Illustrate, and find a reason if you can. 
How are the ossicles related to the spines? to the papulae? Study with some care 
the ossicles forming the ambulacral groove, beginning at the middle line. 

Ambulacral rafters: shape and arrangement. 

Ambulacral pores; are they in, or between, the ossicles? 

Adambulacral ossicles (just lateral to the former); how do these compare in 
number with the ambulacral ossicles? 

' ' Cross-shaped ' ' ossicles. 

Which of the above bear spines? what kind? 

Place some of the cleaned ossicles in dilute hydrochloric acid. Result? What 
is the significance of this result? 

7. Physiological experiments are possible only near the seashore. The animals 
must be kept in sea water, and studied soon after being collected. When possible, 
locomotion, the action of the ambulacral feet, feeding, and sensitiveness should be 
studied. Do you find any indications, among the specimens provided, of the power 
to renew a lost arm? With care and perseverance, at the proper time of year, the 
sexual elements may be collected and the maturation, fertilization, and cleavage of 
the ovum illustrated in this group. Inland schools may procure prepared slides 
demonstrating the early development of the starfish or sea-urchin. 

8. Compare briefly the external gross features of other "stars" with that 
already studied. 

240. Sea-urchin {Echinus or Arbacia). 

A few skeletons of sea-urchins and sand-dollars will be of great value in enabling 
the pupil to see how the same general plan of structure may be varied, in different 
organisms. 

1. Spines (if present): arrangement and method of attachment. Are they of 
the same appearance and composition as the skeleton? Do you find any signs 
of the former presence of ambulacral feet? If so what, and how arranged? Can 
they all have the same function as in the starfish? Proofs? 

2. Ossicles; Make out the boundaries. Compare with the condition in the 
starfish. What are the special advantages gained by each arrangement? Can 
you find anything corresponding to ambulacral ossicles? (Look for the pores.) 
What corresponds to the ambulacral groove in Asterias? Identify the inter ambu- 
lacral ossicles . How arranged ? What is radial and what interradial in the urchin ? 
What in the sea-urchin would correspond to the oral and aboral surfaces in the 



ECHINODERMATA 211 

starfish? Evidences? Find the madreporic body. Make a plot of all the os- 
sicles in this region, noting the differences. Find the genital pores. 

3. "Aristotle's lantern" (the mouth apparatus). 

Examine the structure as a whole. How related to the body? Study the 
parts in their relation to each other. Number, and method of action ? 

Descriptive Text 

241. The Echinoderma (spiny- skinned) form a very distinct 
group of animals, which in the adult condition at least show a 
decided radial symmetry. They possess a more or less extensive 
calcareous exo-skeleton with outwardly directed spines. The 
starfishes, sea-urchins, brittle stars, sea-lilies, and sea-cu- 
cumbers are representatives. They are marine in habit and 
may be either fixed or slow-moving. They agree with the 
Coelenterates in having radial symmetry, and in the absence 
of a well-marked brain and other signs of cephalization. There 
is considerable ground for believing that this is an outcome of 
their sluggish habit, since the larval free-swimming condition is 
bilaterally symmetrical, and radial symmetry is clearly adapted 
to a passive life. It is difficult to determine the relationships 
of the Echinoderms; yet it seems probable that their ancestors 
were bilateral forms. 

242. General Characters. 

1 . Larvae bilaterally symmetrical ; adults with a more or Jess 
complete radial arrangement of equivalent parts, usually on the 
plan of five. In this radial plan all the principal sets of organs 
share: as the nervous, digestive, reproductive, etc. 

2. Complete differentiation of digestive tract and body 
cavity. The latter is spacious. 

3. Blood- vascular system partially differentiated from the 
body cavity, but communicating with it. 

4. Exo-skeleton calcareous, derived from the mesoderm; 
composed of isolated spicules or united plates; usually bearing 
spines. 

5. A water- vascular system present, consisting of a series of, 
tubes (closed except at one point), muscular sacs (ampullae) 
and distensible feet, and serving a locomotor and respiratory 
function. 



212 



ZOOLOGY 



6. Reproduction exclusively sexual; development usually 
indirect, i.e., with a metamorphosis. 

243. General Survey. — Most echinoderms have a central 
disc in which are located portions of the various sets of organs. 
Ordinarily there radiate from this disc more or less clearly 
defined rays or arms in which lie radial outgrowths from cer- 
tain central organs. The spaces between the rays (inter-radii) 

Fig. 97. 







«k 




9 » * 


- 


r ■•■ ■'■' 






^IB^x 1 



Fig. 97. Starfish, from chart of Leuckart and Nitsche. 

Questions on the figure. — How would you describe the symmetry of the animal ? 
Identify and name, by comparison with the diagrams and the text, all the struc- 
tures which show in the figure. Compare this with specimens or figures of the 
common American species and note the chief differences. 



may be bridged by growth in such a way that the distinction 
between rays and disc is not marked (echinoids). In crinoids 
the arms may be much branched. The oral-aboral axis is usu- 
allv pronounced, often short, and is vertical in position (aster- 



ECHINODERMATA 213 

oids, echinoids, crinoids, etc.), though in the sea-cucumbers 
(holothuroids) it is horizontal and much elongated. Starfish 
are flattened vertically, as are the sand-dollars, but many of the 
urchins (echinoids) are dome-shaped. The antimeres are at 
right angles to this chief axis. In addition to this dominant 
radial symmetry, there is seen even in the adult a suggestion 
of the bilateral condition. The madreporic body generally 
occurs in only one interradius, and a plane passing through 
it and splitting the opposite arm divides the body into two sym- 
metrical halves. No other plane does this. The two arms 
embracing the madreporic body are known as the bivium, the 
remaining three, the trivium. In some of the echinoids the 
bilateral symmetry becomes much more pronounced than in 
starfish. 

244. The integument consists of an outer ectodermal por- 
tion which is often ciliated (cilia wanting in the holothuroids 
and ophiuroids), and a subepithelial, mesodermic layer in which 
is developed the calcareous ossicles. These may occur as spic- 
ules, as rods, or as plates in the various classes. They may be 
bound together by connective and muscle fibres. Frequently 
the ossicles bear spines which may or may not be movable. 
The spines are useful in defense and locomotion. Special forms 
of spines known as pedicellarice often occur (asteroids and 
echinoids). They consist of two- or three-pronged pincers 
moved by muscles. They may be mounted on short stalks. It 
is suggested that they help clear the body of foreign objects 
which lodge among the spines. 

245. Digestive System. — The mouth and anus usually open 
at opposite poles of the principal axis (asteroids, holothuroids, 
and some echinoids). When the axis is vertical the mouth is 
usually directed downward, in the centre of the oral surface, 
and the anus occupies a more or less central position on the 
upper or aboral surface. In some of the echinoids and crinoids 
the mouth or anus, or both, have vacated their central position 
and may come to occupy opposite margins of the body. The 
digestive tract is a simple tube, in the holothuroids running 
spirally through the body. In the echinoids a similar condition 



214 



ZOOLOGY 



is found except that it begins in a complex masticating apparatus 
of five parts (Aristotle's lantern). In the asteroids the mouth 
opens by a short esophagus into an expanded stomach which is 
divided into an oral, or cardiac, and a pyloric portion (Fig. 98). 
From the pyloric part the narrow intestine passes to the anus. 
Outpocketings (caeca) may occur in any of these divisions. 
The most important are the hepatic caeca which are glandular in 
function. 



Fig. 98. 




!3 '*.*. 

Fig. 98. Vertical (sagittal) section through an arm and an interradius of a Starfish (diagram- 
matic), a, anus; amp., ampulla; c.b., circular blood vessel; c.w., circular water canal; co., ccelom; 
co. e. ccelomic epithelium; d.b., dermal branchiae; e, position of the eyespot; ect., ectoderm; ent., 
entoderm; /, ambulacral foot; g, ambulacral groove; h, hepatic caeca or liver; *', intestine; i.e., 
intestinal caeca; mes, mesoderm; mo., mouth; m.p., madreporic body; n.r., nerve ring; os., ossicles 
in mesoderm; r.n., radial nerve band; r.b., radial blood vessel; r.p., reproductive pore; r.w., radial 
water canal; s.c, stone canal; sp., spines; z, lacunar spaces in the mesoderm. (Adapted from 
various sources.) 

246. The body cavity is well developed in the disc and usu- 
ally in the arms, is lined with a ciliated epithelium, and contains 
a fluid with amoeboid corpuscles. It is completely distinct from 
the digestive cavity. Thin outgrowths of the body- wall (papula 
or branchice) contain extensions of the ccelom. These assist in 
respiration. 

247. Ambulacral or Water -vascular System. — This system 
of tubular organs is peculiar to the echinoderms. It originates 
(see also 254), in common with the body cavity, as an outgrowth 
from the archenteron and is to be regarded as a specialized por- 



ECHINODERMATA 



215 



tion of the body cavity. In some cases these two cavities are in 
communication in the adult. The water vascular system consists 
essentially of a ring-vessel about the mouth from which pass 
radial tubes, one in each arm. From the radial tubes arise 
lateral channels which communicate, directly or through bladder 
like ampulla, with distensible feet which reach the exterior by 
pores in the skeleton (Figs. 99, 100). The tip of the foot may 
be provided with a sucking-disc, serving as a means of attach- 
ment and of locomotion. Frequently the* walls of these feet are 
thin and apparently serve for respiration, and the terminal 



Fig. 99. 



-d. b. 




Fig. 99. Transverse section of the arm of a Starfish near the disc. Diagrammatic Lettering 
as in preceding figure, a.r., ambulacral rafter (ossicle); ov., ovary, containing ova. 

Questions on figures 98 and 99. — What are the principal sets of organs repre- 
sented in the disc of the starfish ? Which of these have radial portions going into the 
arms? Follow carefully the ectodermal, entodermal and mesodermal boundaries. 
Locate and identify the various structures lettered, and determine as far as possible, 
whether the essential part of each is furnished by ectoderm, entoderm or mesoderm. 
Is there a ccelom? Your evidences? What is the relation of the water-vascular 
cavity to the coelom, in origin? 



"foot" at the end of each radius may be highly modified to 
form a sense organ (tentacle). The feet, the ampullas, and even 
the radial vessels may be wanting. The ring-canal, in typical 
forms, communicates with the surrounding sea-water by means 
of a tube (stone canal) which terminates in a sieve-like plate, 
the madreporic body, through which the water enters the water- 



2l6 ZOOLOGY 

vascular system. In the majority of the Holothuroids the 
madreporic tubes open into the body cavity instead of opening 
to the exterior. In consequence the fluid which is found in the 
water-vascular system is the same as that of the body cavity 
and contains amoeboid cells. In the crinoids also the water- 
vascular system communicates directly with the ccelom, but 
there is no true madreporic canal. In its stead is found a sys- 
tem of ciliated water-tubes in connection with the ring canal. 
Identify the elements in the water- vascular system from Fig. 
ioo. 

248. Respiration occurs in connection with the water- 
vascular system especially in those forms in which the tentacles 
and ambulacral feet are possessed of thin walls (holothuroids 
and some echinoids). In the asteroids and echinoids there are 
thin outpocketings of the body-wall, papulae or branchiae (Fig. 
99, d.b.), the cavity in which is continuous with the body cavity. 
The body fluids may thus be aerated from the water outside. 
In some forms water is drawn into special branching pockets 
{respiratory tree) in the wall of the rectum, and later is forced 
out again. 

249. Circulation. — The circulatory vessels are merely partly 
differentiated portions of the ccelom or body cavity. Our knowl- 
edge is by no means complete but it seems that in none of the 
groups is there a complete separation of the blood spaces from 
the ccelom. There are probably no contractile hearts. The 
walls of the blood spaces may bear cilia which assist in securing 
the motion of the fluid. The blood contains migratory cells, 
usually colorless, and is identical with the fluid in the body 
cavity. The general body contractions are important in caus- 
ing motion of the fluids. It should be remembered that the 
water- vascular system is also partly circulatory in function. 
The blood vessels of the various classes agree in having a central 
circular portion consisting of one or more rings, with radial 
tubes running into the arms, and in some instances vessels which 
accompany the intestine. The vessels of the oral surface are, 
throughout, in close connection with the nervous epithelium 
(Fig. 98, r.b.). 



ECHINODERMATA 



217 



250. Excretion. — It is impossible to name any organs known 
to be solely excretory in function. As in respiration many 
organs may take part in the work. The gaseous and soluble 
excreta are eliminated through the general body surface, the 
papulas, the respiratory tree, or the ambulacral organs. The 
skeletal ossicles in the mesoderm represent, in part at least, 




Fig. 100. Diagram of a portion of the water- vascular (ambulacral) system of the Starfish, c 
ampullae;/, ambulacral feet; m, madreporic body; p, Polian vesicles; r.c, ring canal, with the upper 
portion removed at the right of the figure; r.t., radial water tubes (in r.t.' the upper portion is re- 
moved at the distal end and the proximal portion is represented entire) ; s, stone canal. 

Questions on the figure. — Where does the water enter this system of vessels? 
At what points in the system is it of use? By comparing all illustrations at your 
disposal, describe the mode of using this system of organs for locomotion. How 
may it be used in respiration? 

the elimination of certain inorganic salts which can not be used 
in the vital activities and are therefore excretions. 

251. The Muscular System. — The degree of the develop- 
ment of the muscular system varies. In those forms which 
have a well-developed skeleton the body muscles are not of 



2l8 ZOOLOGY 

much significance. In the holothurians, on the contrary, the 
body is capable of definite and considerable contractions, by 
reason of both circular and longitudinal fibres. In forms with 
incomplete skeletons, as the starfish, muscular fibres connect 
the ossicles. There is a high degree of flexion of the arms of 
crinoids and ophiuroids. There are also special muscles con- 
trolling the water vascular system, the stomach, the mouth parts, 
the spines and pedicellarise. The fibres are non-striate. 

252. The Nervous System consists of a ring around the 
mouth and a radial nervous band in each arm supplying, by a 
plexus of fibres and cells, all the radial organs. This system is 
superficial ("ventral") to the radial water-tube (Fig. 99, r. n.) 
and in the starfish preserves its connection with the ectoderm 
from which it is in all forms derived. Other deeper lying, and 
even aboral, nervous elements are described for some of the 
members of the group. These elements, when present, have as 
their function the innervation of the muscles of the interior and 
of the aboral wall of the body. 

Sensory organs are not highly developed. The animals 
show evidences of possessing a chemical sense (analogous to 
taste and smell) by which the presence of food is detected. 
This is apparently localized in the tentacles in such forms as 
have them. A tactile sense is also present, and is most highly 
developed in the tentacles, ambulacral feet, and other movable 
outgrowths. At the tip of the antimeres of the asteroids, or of 
the radial nerve (echinoid) are structures bearing pigmented 
spots, which appear to be sensitive to light {eye-spots). These 
cannot give more than a very general impression of light, by 
means of the chemical changes induced in the pigment cells by 
the action of the light. Starfish are more quiet during the day. 
When the starfish is placed on its "back" it makes definite 
coordinated movements to right itself. Experiments seem to 
show that the behavior of the starfish is modified slowly by its 
experiences. That is to say it learns to do certain things in 
certain ways. It retains ("remembers") for at least a few days. 

253. Reproduction is wholly sexual. The sexes are distinct, 
but the males and females are not often distinguishable by 



ECHINODERMATA 219 

external characters. The sexual organs, ovaries or testes, are 
lobed bodies occurring usually in pairs in an interradial position. 
These open by pores also interradial, and usually dorsal (Fig. 
99, r. p.). There are typically five pairs of genital glands, but 
in the holothurians the number is reduced to one. Fertilization 
takes place outside the body, and usually the development is 
wholly independent of the parent. In some instances however 
the parent has special pouches in which development proceeds. 

254. Development. — The fertilized ovum undergoes total 
and practically equal segmentation, producing a ciliated blastula. 
Gastrulation occurs by invagination resulting in ectoderm and 
entoderm. The mesoderm is formed in two ways: (i) by mi- 
grating cells budded from the entoderm into the segmentation 
cavity (Fig. 14, c) ; and (2) by the outgrowth of ccelomic vesicles 
or pouches from the wall of the archenteron or entoderm. 
These latter outpockets of the wall of the gut are those which 
give rise to the ccelom and to the water vascular system (see 

§247). 

In the later larval development the cilia of the gastrula be- 
come limited to two zones, — a preoral and a preanal, — and the 
shape of the larva is much modified. Numerous paired, lateral 
outgrowths serve to accentuate the fundamental bilateral sym- 
metry. In most members of the group a marked metamorphosis 
occurs in the passage from the larval to the adult condition. 
During this change, the water vascular system and the mid-gut 
of the larva are retained with the necessary modifications. 
About these as a centre/what we might almost cal] a new animal, 
the radiate starfish, begins to grow at the expense of the larval 
organs which are absorbed by the amoeboid cells, and thus new 
organs appropriate to the adult are formed. During this process 
the bilateral symmetry of the embryo gives place to the radial 
symmetry of the adult. While there is no reproduction by 
budding there is a striking power of renewal of arms or other 
portions which may be lost by injury, or in some instances by 
self-mutilation. Arms are readily reproduced if the disc is 
uninjured (stars, brittle-stars, and crinoids); portions of the 
internal organs, as the digestive tract, are said to be regenerated 



2 20 ZOOLOGY 

by some of the holothurians. Occasionally, at least, an arm 
and a small portion of disc seems to have the power of reproduc- 
ing a new disc and other arms. This power of throwing off arms 
and replacing them is doubtless a means of protection. 

255. Ecology. — The echinoderms are marine. The larvae 
are free-swimming, but after "the assumption of the adult form 
they usually become much less active. The crinoids are typic- 
ally stalked and often attached. The asteroids and echinoids 
inhabit the bottom of the ocean where they creep more or less 
slowly. They may be found at almost any depth, from the 
shallow pools at low tide to the deeper bottoms. Many of 
them burrow in the mud and sand, and others (some sea- 
urchins) have the power of scouring out burrows in the rocks 
by the action of their spines. Echinoderms, being slow movers, 
are compelled to subsist upon such food as the currents or the 
chance movements of other animals may bring, or upon the 
debris which falls to the bottom of the sea, or upon such organ- 
isms as are attached and cannot escape. The starfishes, for 
example, are a constant menace to the oyster beds. The fact 
that some starfish are in a measure gregarious makes this all 
the more serious. It is difficult to see how the starfish can get 
the oyster from the protection of its shell, but it manages to get 
the shell open and clasping its arms about its prey it turns the 
cardiac portion of its stomach inside-out over the soft part of 
the oyster and thus leisurely digests it outside its body, so to 
speak, leaving the empty shell behind. Except for this the 
group is of little economic importance. The Chinese esteem 
some species of Holothuria (the trepang, for example) as food. 
The group appeared early in geological time (Cambrian) and 
has had very characteristic representatives in all succeeding ages 
up to the present. The changes which have taken place in the 
echinoderms from one geological age to another are among the 
most interesting and instructive furnished by the invertebrates. 

256. Classification. — Class I., Blastoidea; Class II. , Cystoidea. 

(These are both extinct, fossil classes. They comprise stalked and attached 
forms, and perhaps represent the nearest approach of our known species to the 
primitive echinoderms.) 

Class III. Crinoidea {feather-stars and sea-lilies). — These forms are less com- 



ECHINODERMATA 221 

mon than in earlier geological times, when they must have been very abundant 
and very beautiful. They contribute much to the formation of the limestone of 
the Palaeozoic. They are usually provided with jointed stalks, by which they may 
be attached to the bottom. At the summit of the stalk is a central disc with five 
arms often much branched and bearing lateral pinnules. The anus is on the oral 
or upper surface, the stalk arising from aboral surface. They are inhabitants of 
both shallow water and deep seas. 

Class IV. Aster oidea (starfishes) (Fig. 97). — The asteroids, of which there 
are several hundred species, are free echinoderms with a central disc and usually 
five arms. The latter are large and contain liberal ccelomic spaces in which are 
lodged outgrowths of the digestive system and other organs. There is a distinct 
oral and aboral surface. The anus and madreporic body are on the latter. Dis- 
tinct ambulacral grooves lie on the oral surface of the arms. Adult starfish may 
vary in size from a few inches to two feet or more in diameter. 

Class V. Ophiur oidea (serpent-stars). — These are fragile, free echinoderms 
in which the arms are small and much more distinct from the disc than in the 
asteroids. The organs of the disc are not all continued into the arms. There is 
no anus, no ambulacral grooves, and the madreporic body is on the oral surface. 
Their slender arms are useful in clinging to supports or to prey, and are used in 
locomotion. They are readily broken and regenerated. 

Class VI. Echinoidea (sea-urchins, sand-dollars). — These are free echinoderms 
without free arms. The arms are connected by the development of interradial 
plates. The calcareous rods are united into plates which produce a complete exter- 
nal skeleton varying from flat dome-shape (as in sand-dollars) to a globular form 
(Echinus or Arbacia). The mouth is usually in the centre of the oral surface and 
the anus near the centre of the aboral, yet one or both may come to have an excen- 
tric position. In this way the bilateral symmetry is accentuated at the expense of 
the underlying radial symmetry. The madreporic body is aboral and there are 
no ambulacral grooves. The spines of the urchins are usually well developed 
and may be used to scour out rounded pockets in rock in which the animals are 
sometimes found. f 

Class VII. Holothur oidea (sea-cucumbers) . — These are sott, free echinoderms, 
elongated, cylindrical or flat, with mouth and anus at opposite poles of the hori- 
zontal long axis. The skeleton is not well-developed, usually being represented 
merely by scattered spicules. The water-vascular system in most forms com- 
municates with the body cavity instead of the exterior. Well-developed tentacles 
occur about the mouth. Most holothurians burrow in the sand or mud, but others 
cling to rocks near the surface of the water, and still others occur at great depths 
in the ocean. Their reactions are rather more complex than in the other members 
of the phylum. They are more muscular and more responsive to light and con- 
tacts. In addition to hiding by burrowing, they often contract the muscular wall 
violently and eject large portions of their viscera. These may be replaced by 
regeneration. 

257. Suggestive Studies for the Library or Laboratory. 

1. Read and report on the metamorphosis of the various 
members of the group. 

2. Study from dry and moist material and report on the 



22 2 ZOOLOGY 

structure and mode of action of ' 'Aristotle's lantern" in Echinus. 

3. Construct a table of parallel columns — one for each of 
the five living classes — and contrast them as to: (1) general 
form of body including symmetry, (2) manner of motion, (3) 
position of mouth and anus, (4) position of madreporic body, (5) 
character of digestive tract, (6) differences in the spines and other 
skeletal structures, (7) the position and character of the ambu- 
lacral feet, (8) habitat and food, (9) parts repeated in the anti- 
meres. 

4. Report on the habits, appearance, and abundance of 
crinoids in geological time. 

5. The origin and development of the water- vascular system. 

6. Compare the figures of the various classes as illustrated 
in your reference texts, and mark the degree of variation. 



CHAPTER XV 

PHYLUM ANNELIDA (Segmented Worms) 

Laboratory Exercises 

258. The Earthworm (Helodrilus or Lumbricus). — The prin- 
cipal work should be done with living worms. For whatever 
anatomical work is undertaken, specimens may be killed by 
exposure to fumes of chloroform while wrapped in cloth moist- 
ened with water; they should then be pinned out straight, and 
hardened in an abundance of alcohol. If needed in the winter 
they may often be found under manure heaps, or about green- 
houses. They may be kept alive in flower pots containing 
moist earth. 

1. Promorphology; General Form. — Is there an anterior and 
a posterior end ? How distinguished ? Is there any distinction 
of dorsal and ventral surfaces ? If so, what ? Is there bilat- 
eral symmetry? What external evidences of segmentation do 
you find? How are the similar units {metameres or segments) 
arranged ? Compare with the condition in the starfish. Com- 
pare the metameres of different parts of the body, noting differ- 
ences. Is the body divisible into regions {i.e., groups of similar 
metameres) ? Locate (by numbering the segments) all such 
regions. How many segments in the animal ? To what extent 
does this vary in different specimens? Show by a series of 
diagrams the shape of the animal, and the shape and size of 
cross sections in various regions. 

2 . Activities. — Describe, after careful observation, the method 
of locomotion in the earthworm. Place the worm on a 
rough board; on a plate of glass. What is the difference ? And 
why ? Compare the various parts of the body as to size, during 
movement. Cause of the difference ? Can each end move fore- 
most? What seems to determine which end shall protrude as 
the result of the muscular contractions ? 

223 



2 24 ZOOLOGY 

Does the animal respond equally to contact (with pencil or 
toothpick) 'at anterior, posterior, and middle parts of the body ? 
Devise a method of determining whether it is sensitive to light. 
Record results. 

Place moist soil and dry soil side by side on a board; place 
the worm in various positions to test its preference. Record 
results. Place a piece of filter paper which has been dipped in 
acetic acid in the path of a worm. How does it react? Try 
similarly a sugar solution; a salt solution; a decoction of decay- 
ing leaves. Will an earthworm pass voluntarily into water? 
Do your experiments bear in any way on the habits of the earth- 
worm in nature ? Can you secure any evidence as to the food 
of the earthworm ? How ? Record your results. 

3. Special External Structures. — Locate the mouth, the pre- 
oral lobe, clitellum (a series of swollen segments), anus. Com- 
pare preoral lobe with other segments. With a lens and by 
drawing the worm backward between the fingers discover the 
setae or bristles. Are they found on all segments ? Number 
and position of the groups of setae in each segment ? What is 
the function of the setae ? Proofs ? 

4. Internal Anatomy. — Pin out a large specimen, which has been hardened in 
alcohol, on dissecting board or pah, and carefully remove the dorsal wall from the 
anterior half of the body by making lateral incisions with sharp-pointed scissors, 
or make a single incision along the back a little to one side of the middle line. 
After noting the transverse membranes (dissepiments), their relation to the rings on 
the outside, and their attachments, cut them so the body wall may be folded back 
and pinned. The dissection should proceed under fluid, — 50 per cent, alcohol, for 
example. Make all the outline drawings necessary to show all your discoveries. 
Notice the ccelom. It is completely divided by the dissepiments? Are the cham- 
bers of equal size? 

(a) Digestive organs: Beginning at the anterior end, note the following re- 
gions: 

Pharynx, a pear-shaped enlargement: how held in place? In what seg- 
ments is it situated? 

Esophagus, a narrow tube; crop; gizzard; intestine. 

Determine the segments in which each region occurs. Does the digestive 
tract show any signs of segmentation, i.e., in] correspondence with the 
external rings? 

(b) Circulatory system : A living or newly killed specimen is somewhat better 
for this. Discover, if possible: 

Dorsal vessel (just dorsal to the digestive tract). 
Ventral vessel (just ventral to the digestive tract). 



ANNELIDA 225 

Hearts, transverse vessels connecting the longitudinal vessels, in segments 
VII to XI. 

There are other vessels more difficult to find. Examine a drop of the con- 
tents of the blood vessels with the microscope. 

(c) Reproductive System: These organs are rather too complicated for satis- 
factory results in an elementary class. Instead of a detailed examination note the 
reproductive segments (in the region of the esophagus) with the whitish bodies 
showing at the sides of the alimentary canal, and ventral to it. They are attached 
to the septa. (Compare figures in various text-books.) Make a composite dia- 
gram of your own. 

(d) Nervous System: In a well-hardened preparation, identify: 

Brain, a whitish* lobed ganglion just dorsal to, and in front of the pharynx; 
collar, around the mouth, connecting the brain with ventral ganglia, the 
first of a longitudinal chain of ganglia which give off nerves in each seg- 
ment. How are the ganglia of the ventral chain related to the dissepi- 
ments? 

(e) Excretory Organs: Just lateral to the nerve-chain the student may be 
able to find coiled thread-like structures (nephridial tubes) in nearly all the body 
segments (see text, §270). How many in each segment? 

5. Microscopic Demonstration. — Good permanent mounts of transverse sections 
from various regions of the earthworm are valuable. Students should identify 
the structures studied in the gross dissection, and determine the nature of the 
following parts (see Fig. 103): — 

Cuticle, or outer layer. 

Body wall, and the relation of the circular and longitudinal muscles. 

The ventral nerve-chain in position. 

The dorsal and ventral blood vessels. 

The wall of the digestive tract; gland cells, typhlosole, etc. 

259. Dero (or other minute aquatic Annelid). — Any one of 
these fresh-water worms may be used very profitably to suppli- 
ment the students' work on the earthworm. They seem to the 
author much to be preferred even to the earthworm for an un- 
derstanding of the arrangement of the internal organs. Mount 
the living worm, being careful to support the cover-glass. Study 
with low power. Compare at all points with the earthworm. 
Dero may usually be had at any season of the year by taking 
mud and organic matter from the bottoms, of foul brooks or 
ponds and placing it in vessels in the laboratory. The worms 
will usually come to the sides of the vessels where they may be 
seen. Owing to its transparent qualities, such a form will be 
especially valuable in giving the student a better idea of the 
performance of function in the group. What evidences of mus- 
cular action are manifest ? How is locomotion effected ? Posi- 
tion and mode of action of setae? Study the capture of food; 
15 



2 26 ZOOLOGY 

how is its progress through the digestive tract, and its elimina- 
tion therefrom effected? Do you discover any circulation of 
the blood? Direction of flow? Evidences? How accom- 
plished? Test for ability to receive and respond to stimuli of 
different sorts. Where are new segments formed? Discover, 
if possible, instances of fission, by which new individuals are 
formed. 

260. The Leech. — The leech may be studied and compared with the earthworm 
as to its external features, its habits, mode of locomotion,. and the like. If large 
specimens can be had some members of the class might substitute it for the earth- 
worm and the results of the studies brought into comparison. 

261. Nereis. — Compare specimens of Nereis with the earthworm. 
Note especially: 

(a) The specialization of the anterior end ; proboscis, mouth, jaws, palps, cirri, 
eyes, antennae. 

(b) The fleshy supports of the bristles, parapodia. 



Descriptive Text . 

262. The Annelida are separated from the unsegmented 
worms by the possession of a series of segments or metameres 
which show on the exterior as rings, and contain similar or 
homologous organs or similar portions of a continuous organ. 
There is also a more uniform development of the ccelom than 
in the lower worms. They differ from the Ccelenterata in hav- 
ing bilateral rather than radial symmetry in the adult condition. 
The development is often direct, but in many, especially the 
marine forms, there is a metamorphosis, the peculiar balloon- 
shaped larva known as the trochophore, being (Fig. 106, E) f simi- 
lar in some respects to the Rotifers. 

263. General Characters. 

1. Body elongated, bilaterally symmetrical and segmented. 

2. External paired appendages when present not jointed. 

3. A well-developed ccelom present. 

4. One pair of excretory organs (nephridia) in practically all 
segments, connecting ccelom with outside. Certain highly 
modified nephridia may serve as outlets for the reproductive 
cells in some species. 



ANNELIDA 



227 



5. The nervous system consisting of (1) a supra-esophageal 
ganglion (brain), and (2) a circum-esophageal collar or con- 
nective uniting it with (3) a ventral chain of ganglia with a 
ganglion in each segment. 

6. Locomotion is primarily effected by means of the contrac- 
Fig. 101. tionsof the body wall, acting on body fluids 

in the cavity within. 

7. Development either direct or in- 
direct. When indirect, the larva passing 
-M~ through a trochophore stage. 

264. General Survey. — The Annelida 
though conforming to the type outlined 
above are very diverse in appearance, 
habits and internal structure, While the 
Chastopoda, — the class to which the forms 
studied in the laboratory belong, — are 
taken as the type, the leeches, which have 
no bristles but possess suckers, are un- 
doubtedly related, as is shown by their 
development. The Rotifers and other 
forms are sometimes included among the 
relatives of the Annelida. Metamerism 



Fig. ioi. Dero, a fresh-water oligochaetous annelid, in optical 
(frontal) section. Enlarged 30 times, a, appendages; br., brain; 
d, dissepiments; t. intestine; m, mouth; nph, nephridium; oe; 
esophagus; p, pavilion, lined with ciliated entoderm; ph., pharynx. 
pr„ processes from the anal segment; s, zone immediately in 
front of the anal segment where new segments are continually 
being formed; z', the zone of budding. This takes place in the 
middle of a segment. The anterior half-segment of z will pro- 
duce a region like 2 for the anterior half of the worm. The 
posterior half-segment will produce a head and four segments 
like those which contain the pharynx (1-4) of the parent worm. 

Questions on the figure. — What regions of the 
digestive tract are sufficiently differentiated to de- 
serve notice? What is the number of the segment 
in which budding is taking place? What structures 
must the anterior half of this segment make? The 
segment behind the dividing segment becomes num- 
ber 5 of the new posterior worm. What structures 
then must be developed from the posterior half of the 
dividing segment? 



228 



ZOOLOGY 



in animals is a most interesting phenomenon. to zoologists. This 
group is the first in which we have found true metamerism. The 
body of the animals is more or less constricted on the outside into 
rings — as the name (Annelida) implies. The internal organs 
also show metamerism, but in various ways. These organs may 
pass directly through, with slight segmental modification, as the 
digestive tube and ventral nerve cord; they may be repeated 
independently in each segment, as the setse or nephridial tubules ; 
or they may be represented in only one or a limited number of 



Fig. 102. 



d. m. 




d n. f. co. 

Fig. 102. Longitudinal section of anterior end of Dero. A, sagittal section; B, frontal section 
to show anterior portion of nervous system, b, brain; co., nervous collar about the mouth; c.v., 
contractile blood vessels ("hearts"); d, dissepiment; d.m., dermo-muscular wall; d.v., dorsal blood 
vessel; m, mouth; n.c, nerve cells; n.f., nerve fibres; np., nephridia; p, prostomium; ph., pharynx; 
s, setse; sn., segmental nerves; v.g. ventral chain of ganglia; v.v., ventral blood vessel. Notice that 
only a portion of the blood vascular system is shown, and this appears unsectioned in the figure; 
also that nervous structures and nepridia are only partially represented. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare this with the cross section of Dero and 
identify the parts. How do the four anterior segments differ from the others 
figured ? Does the ventral nerve cord continue the whole length of such an animal 
as this? Which organs may be described as segmental and which as continuous 
through the segments? 



segments, as the brain or the reproductive organs. The seg- 
ments are not therefore exactly equivalent, yet the agreement 
between successive segments is sufficient to merit the term 
homonomous (see §125). The number of segments varies from 
a few to hundreds. The body is from four or five to many times 



ANNELIDA 



229 



as long as broad, and is usually cylindrical or flattened dorso- 
vent rally. 

265. The dermo-muscular sac is composed of the integu- 
ment and the muscular layers of the body wall. Being filled 
with the body fluids it is a very important instrument of loco- 
motion. This is accomplished by the alternate contractions of 
the circular and longitudinal fibres with which the wall is sup- 
plied. Externally there is a cuticula, usually very thin, over- 
lying and secreted by the layer of hypodermal cells. Some of 
the cells of the hypodermal layer are glandular and others are 
sensory. The setae or bristles are secretions of the hypodermal 

Fig. 103. 



c— 




»y».c 



n..*/ 



Fig. 103. Transverse section of Dero (diagrammatic). X300. c, ccelom; c.L, cells of the 
so-called "lateral line;" d.m., dermo-muscular wall including muscles and skin; d.v., dorsal blood 
vessel; eel. ectoderm; ent, entoderm; g, gut; g.f., giant nerve fibres; gl, glandular cells assisting in 
digestion; m.c, circular muscle fibres; m, longitudinal muscle fibres; n, nephridium; n.v., ventral 
nerve chain, made up of nerve cells and nerve fibres; s, setae; v.v., ventral blood vessel. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare this with Fig. 102 and identify all the struc- 
tures which appear in both. What elements enter into the dermo-muscular wall? 
Identify nerve cells, fibres and the "giant fibres" in the ventral nerve cord. 

cells and lie in sacs in the integument. These structures vary 
in number and position but are usually paired, — two or four 
groups to each segment. They are absent in the leeches. Next 
to the skin is a layer of circular muscle fibres, and within these 
are the longitudinal bands of muscle fibres. In the leeches there 



230 ZOOLOGY 

are also dorso-ventral fibres. Special groups of fibres occur in 
connection with the setae, the mouth parts, suckers, etc. The 
fibres are spindle-shaped and unstriate. The dermo-muscular 
wall bounds a true body cavity in the chaetopods ; but in leeches 
the ccelom is almost filled with connective tissue. This sug- 
gests the condition in many of the unsegmented worms. See 
Figs. 101, 103. 

266. Worms as a rule have no external skeleton other than 
the cuticula, but in some instances a tubular protective structure 
is formed by secretion or by cementing together small particles 
of foreign matter. Because of the absence of hard skeletal 
parts little is known concerning the worms of past geological 
ages. 

267. Digestive System and Feeding. — The stomodaeum, the 
mesenteron, and proctodaeum (see §93) are all to be distin- 
guished in the enteric canal. The mouth is not quite terminal, 




-vy. 

Fig. 104. Transverse section of the intestine of the Earthworm, ty, typhlosole, an infolded 
longitudinal ridge in the gut in which the gland cells (gl.) are especially aggregated. Other letters 
as in Fig. 103. 

Questions on the figure. — Of what conceivable gain is the typhlosole? What 
is it analogous to in the higher types of animals? 

but slightly ventral. The prostomium (or preoral lobe), a mus- 
cular extension of the oral segment, overarches it. There is 
typically an enlarged muscular pharynx which is often eversible, 
followed by a narrow tubular esophagus. Often there is no 
further differentiation, the remainder of the tube being fairly 
uniform and called the intestine. Frequently, however, special 



ANNELIDA 23 1 

enlargements occur, chief among which is the stomach or gizzard, 
— a grinding organ. In the leeches the alimentary system is 
much modified in accordance with the blood-sucking habit of 
the animal. The crop is capable of great enlargement and may 
contain enough blood to nourish the animal for a long time. 
The mouth is sometimes armed with special cuticular outgrowths 
which serve as teeth. Glands either unicellular or compound 
occur in various regions of the digestive tract. These secrete 
enzymes similar to those of higher animals. In the earthworm 
and related forms there is a dorsal longitudinal fold of the in- 
testinal wall into the lumen of the tube, thus increasing the ex- 
posed surface. This is called the typhlosole (Fig. 104) and is 
supplied with cells which have been described as digestive. 
The entodermal epithelium is surrounded by connective tissue 
and muscular fibres. 

Worms make use of every possible kind of food. Earth- 
worms eat pieces of vegetable or animal matter, and soil con- 
taining these. They are lovers of darkness, and capture their 
food at night. When the light is dim they may come to the sur- 
face of the ground and, with the tail segments inserted in the 
opening of the burrows, explore the surroundings as far as they 
can reach. After night showers they may come entirely out. 
It is at such times as these that they become the prey of the 
"early bird." Many of the marine forms are actively carnivo- 
rous. Most leeches are blood-suckers, though some are car- 
nivorous- Many small worms flourish in foul water where they 
use much decaying organic matter and microscopic organisms. 

268. Respiration. — The exchange of gases is effected for the 
most part through the general body wall, into which the blood 
capillaries or the lacunae of the ccelom may penetrate. In some 
forms there are special thin places and out-pocketings of the body- 
wall (branchiae) by which the exchange is facilitated. These 
are characteristic of the Polychaeta especially (Figs. 107, 108). 

269. Circulation. — In some of the simplest worms there are 
no special blood vessels. The ccelomic spaces contain a fluid, 
which possesses corpuscles and is moved by the general body 
contractions. In the typical condition there are two or more 



232 ZOOLOGY 

longitudinal vessels, dorsal and ventral (or lateral) in position. 
These are often connected by transverse loops in a few or many 
segments of the body especially at the anterior and posterior 
ends. The circum-intestinal loops are often contractile, and 
the longitudinal vessels may show a wave of contraction passing 
from one end to the other. Capillaries vary much in perfection 
of development. The blood contains only white corpuscles. 
There is haemoglobin in the plasma. 

270. Excretion takes place by means of the segmental organs 
or nepkridia, of which there is usually one pair in each segment, 
with the exception of some of the anterior segments. The 
nephridium is a tubular structure consisting essentially of the 
following portions (Fig. 35): (1) a ciliated funnel, communi- 
cating with the ccelom; (2) a tortuous glandular region; and (3) 
an outlet through the body wall, often supplied with muscle 
fibres. The nitrogenous waste products find their way into the 
fluid of the ccelom and thence into the nephridium, or directly 
into the nephridium from blood capillaries which may occur in 
its walls, and thus are finally eliminated upon the exterior of 
the body. 

271. Nervous System and Behavior. — The " central" nerv- 
ous system may be said to consist of three portions: (1) a mid- 
ventral line of nerve fibres, and nerve cells which are diffusely 
scattered or collected in ganglia, (2) a brain which is anterior 
and dorsal to the pharynx, (3) a connective, or collar about the 
pharynx connecting (1) and (2) (Fig. 102). The brain and 
ventral cord may show distinct right and left lobes or may be 
completely fused into a median mass. From the brain^ nerves 
pass to the head-parts. From each of the segmental portions 
of the ventral chain nerves pass to the walls, viscera, etc. The 
ventral cord frequently lies in a blood sinus which provides its 
abundant nourishment (leeches). 

The sense organs occur very unequally in the group. The 
Polychasta and the leeches are best supplied. The integument 
is generally sensitive to mechanical contact, to chemical stimuli 
and to moisture. This sensitiveness is perhaps specially local- 
ized in the tentacles, cirri, and more movable parts. Statocysts, 



ANNELIDA 233 

fluid-filled cavities bounded by sensory. epithelium, occasionally 
occur (see §111). Some solid particles (statoliths) float in the 
fluid. These have been described as organs of hearing but the 
sensation resulting is probably quite different from what we 
know as hearing. They are apparently organs of equilibration, 
enabling the animal to appreciate its position in relation to the 
pull of gravity and to appreciate the action of water waves. 
Eyes may consist merely of a group of pigmented cells with 
nervous connections, or may be very complicated, consisting 
of a capsule with refractive media and retina. Images of ob- 
jects are not formed, in all probability, but the direction and 
intensity of light can be appreciated. In the leech there are 
sense organs in each segment somewhat similar in structure to 
the eyes. Their function is unknown. Even in the earthworm 
and other forms in which there are no eyes, the skin is sensitive 
to light. Most worms prefer dark places. 

272. Reproductive Organs. — The Oligochaeta and the leeches 
are hermaphrodite. In the Polychaeta the sexes are separate. 
The sexual products are developed from the ccelomic epithelium, 
sometimes on the dissepiments, sometimes on the body wall, or 
in other special regions. The elements may be produced in 
many segments (Polychaeta), or in a few anterior ones (Oligo- 
chaeta). The region is usually distinguishable only about the 
breeding time. In the hermaphrodite forms the ova and sper- 
matozoa often mature at different times and are produced in 
different segments. This of course insures cross-fertilization. 
In the Polychaeta the conditions are relatively simple. The 
elements are freed in the body cavity and when mature find 
their way into the water where fertilization takes place. The 
organs are much more complicated in the hermaphrodite worms. 
The spermatozoa are produced in the testes, are passed into the 
seminal vesicles where they are matured, and at the time of 
copulation escape to the exterior by the vasa deferentia, to be 
deposited in the sperm sacs or receptacula seminis of another 
worm. From this place, any time after copulation, the sperm 
is brought into contact with the ova of this second worm, as 
they pass from the ovary, where they are produced, to the egg-sac 



234 



ZOOLOGY 



or to the exterior. It is believed that in some instances at least 
the genital ducts are modified nephridia. 

It will be a profitable practical exercise for the student to 
make for himself a diagram of the sex organs of the earthworm 
or some other hermaphrodite form by reference' to several stand- 
ard texts. 

273. Reproduction and Development.— Sexual reproduction 
appears in all groups. As we have seen, copulation may occur 

Pig. 105. 



mi/ 




Fig. 105. Two stages in the development of Nereis. A, 8-celled stage; B, 'io-celled stage, 
both viewed from the active or ectodermal pole, mi. 1 , mi. 2 , and mi.s, the first, second and third 
sets of micromeres separated from ma., the macromeres;. s 1 , first somatoblast, one of the second 
group of four cells to be budded from the macromeres; s 2 , second somatoblast, one of the third group, 
which gives rise to the mesoderm. The micromeres are ectodermal and the macromeres produce 
the entoderm. (After Westinghausen.) 

or the elements may come together in the water. In the Oligo- 
chseta and leeches the fertilized ova, or the ova together with 
masses of spermatozoa, are enclosed in a cocoon of secreted 
material and within this case the young worm is developed. In 
the Polychaeta the larva undergoes its development in a free 
state. Segmentation in Annelida is complete and usually un- 
equal, giving rise at the eight-celled stage to four micromeres and 
four macromeres (Fig. 105). The micromeres produce the ecto- 
derm; directly or indirectly the macromeres give rise to the 
entoderm. Early in the cleavage "primitive mesoblasts" — 
cells which produce the mesodermal structures 1 — are separated 
from the macromeres. A gastrula is formed either by invagina- 
tion or by overgrowth. In the earthworm (Oligochaeta) the 
blastopore of the gastrula forms the mouth of the adult worm. 



ANNELIDA 



235 



In Nereis (Polychaeta) the blastopore closes by growth, and the 
stomodasum and proctodeum arise by ectodermic invaginations 
which finally become continuous with the entoderm of the arch- 
enteron (Fig. 106, D, of Polygordius). A ciliated, free-swim - 




Fig. 106. Diagrams of stages in the metamorphosis of Polygordius, a primitive annelid. , Ecto- 
derm throughout is represented as nucleated without cell boundaries; the entoderm has the cell- 
boundaries shown, and the mesoderm is diagonally shaded. A, gastrula; B, same with blastopore 
closed; C and D represent formation of stomodasum and proctodeum from ectoderm; E, Trocho- 
sphere stage showing formation of segments in the posterior portion; F, adult (sagittal): G, adult 
(transverse), a, archenteron; bp., blastopore; br, brain; c, ccelom; d, dorsal; di, dissepiments; tn, 
mesenteron; pr„ proctodeum; s.c, segmentation cavity; si, stomodasum; v.n., ventral nerve chain; 
x. zone of formation of nerve segments. (After Fraipont.) 

Questions on the figures. — Trace the behavior of ectoderm and entoderm in 
these figures and determine what structures each seems to give rise to. What is a 
trochophore? Distinguish between somatic (body) and splanchnic mesoderm. 
(See §58.) 

ming larval stage ensues, — known as a trochophore (Fig. 106, E). 
The trochosphere may be looked upon as representing the ante- 
rior or head end of the adult. The later metamorphosis to the 
adult condition involves the reduction in size of the enormous 
anterior region, and the growth of segments at the posterior end, 



236 ZOOLOGY 

and is characteristic of Polychaeta. The development of leeches 
is direct as in the Oligochaeta, or in some instances it might be 
more accurate to say that the process of metamorphosis is very 
much abbreviated, being completed by the time of hatching. 

274. In addition to sexual reproduction many worms, par- 
ticularly the aquatic forms, have the power of multiplying by 
budding. Zones of rapidly forming segments (Nais, Dero, etc.) 
are produced somewhere in the mid-region of the body, and from 
this zone a new head is developed for the posterior zooid and a 
new tail for the anterior zooid, which usually become structurally 
complete before the separation takes place (Fig. 101, z'). 

In some of the Polychaeta (as Autolytus) a distinct alternation 
of generation is found in which sexual and non-sexual individuals 
are of very different appearance. 

When artificially mutilated the earthworm, and some other 
types as well, may regenerate the lost portions. Groups of 
segments of one worm may be grafted upon another, complete 
healing taking place in such a way as to produce an apparently 
normal worm. Pieces may be grafted on the side of another 
worm in such a way as to produce a forked or otherwise 
abnormal result. 

275. Ecology. — The leeches are aquatic in habit and 
many of them live on the blood of higher animals, — a kind 
of temporary parasitism; the Polychaeta are almost exclusively 
marine, and the Oligochaeta are chiefly fresh water or terrestrial 
in habit. A few of both groups are parasitic. Of the aquatic 
worms some are actively free-swimming, others crawl in and out 
among the living and dead matter of the bottom, others bur- 
row in the sand, or secrete a tubular skeleton into which they 
may retire. Their chief economic importance is that they serve 
as food for fish and other food-animals. The earthworm, in 
forming its underground burrows, eats its way into the earth, 
swallowing the soil for the organic matter which it contains 
and passing it through its digestive tract. These castings 
may often be seen at the mouth of the burrows. Worms thus 
break up the soil, making it more porous and accessible to air, 
moisture, bacteria, and the rootlets of plants. Darwin esti- 



ANNELIDA 237 

mated that three inches of the subsoil is thus brought to the 
surface in fifteen years through this agency. Doubtless earth- 
worms bring to the surface materials that renew the soil fertility, 
replacing substances taken from the surface soil by plants. 

276. Classification. 

Class I. Chfztopoda {bristle-footed). — Annelida with metameres usually well 
marked both externally and internally; with setae developed from the hypodermis. 
The ccelom is usually voluminous and is divided into chambers by transverse dis- 
sepiments. Closed blood-vascular system. Ventral nerve-chain ordinarily - with 
a distinct ganglion to each segment. 

Fig. 107. 




Fig. 107. Ampkitrite ornata, from Verrill's "Invertebrate Animals of Vineyard Sound.'* 

Subclass I. Polychceta (with numerous bristles). — Marine Chaetopoda with 
numerous setae typically borne on elevations of the body wall (parapodia). Head 
usually well differentiated, bearing eyes, antennae, cirri, etc. Branchiae or gills 
often present. Sexes separate; the reproductive organs simple, and repeated in 
many segments. A metamorphosis occurs; the larva is known as a trochosphere. 

Nereis, the "sand worm" of fishermen, is a type of this group. Autolytus is a 
small worm especially interesting because of its power of reproducing by budding. 
The bud which is freed from the hinder end of the worm differs from the parent 
stock in that it is sexual. Ampkitrite is a beautiful worm which represents the 
attached or tube-forming types. As the result of their habits such forms tend to 
lose their segmentation and the appendages of the posterior part of the body. The 
gills and tentacles accumulate about the head. These and other types grow abun- 
dantly in the sand and mud of harbors, amid the vegetation of the bottom, and 
over exposed objects of all sorts from low- water mark to deep water. Their value 



2 3 8 



ZOOLOGY 



in utilizing debris and the more minute organisms as food and thus becoming 
a link in the saving of these to serve as food for the higher organisms cannot be 
overestimated. (Figs. 107 and 108.) 

Subclass II. Oligochceta {with few bristles). — These are Chagtopoda with no 
parapodia and comparatively few setae which usually occur in two or four clusters 
in each segment. They are mostly fresh water or terrestrial in habit. Fleshy 
outgrowths, such as gills, are almost universally absent. The sexes are united in 
one individual and the accessory reproductive organs are very complicated. Ova- 
ries and testes limited to a small number of anterior segments; development 
direct. The anterior end not so highly specialized as in the Polychaeta. 

Fig. 108. 




Fig. 108. Cirratulus grandis, from Verrill. 

Questions on Figs. 107 and 108. — Are these Chaetopods? What are your 
evidences? What is the nature and function of the numerous outgrowths (bran- 
chial cirri)? In what respects are they differently arranged in the two types? 
Are these Oligochaeta or Polychaeta? Your reasons? 



The earthworms, of which there are numerous species, are the best known types 
of this subclass. The genera and species are distinguished chiefly by the position 
of the sexual organs. The aquatic Oligochaeta, which are much smaller, are found 
in practically all ponds and ditches where organic matter is decaying. The more 
common genera are Dero (Fig. 101), a beautiful, almost transparent worm which 
often forms a temporary tube for itself of particles cemented by its own secretion, 
and Tubifex, a longer worm which burrows in the mud at the bottom of streams; 
a portion of the body protrudes from the mud and waves gently back and forth 
in the water. They may occur so thickly that thousands may be seen in the space 
of a few feet. When their home is jarred they speedily withdraw from sight. A 



ANNELIDA 239 

colony of Tubifex nearly always has assoacited with it one or more genera of 
smaller worms, as Dero or Nais, a species similar to Dero but with eyespots. Dero 
has an interesting respiratory apparatus at the posterior part of the body (Fig. 
1 oi, p.), one of the few instances where Oligochasta possess such organs. 

Class II. Hirudinea. — Annelida in which there are secondary external rings 
which tend to obscure the metameres, inasmuch as the external and internal seg- 
mentations do not coincide. There are no bristles. The body cavity is much 
reduced by the growth of muscles and connective tissue. The remaining spaces 
contain blood and are in communication with the vascular system. Two sucking 
discs are present and are powerful organs of attachment. The anterior sucker 
embraces the mouth; the posterior is near the anus. Sexes are united in one 
individual; testes numerous, ovaries a single pair. Development direct. Marine, 
fresh water or terrestrial. Predatory or parasitic in habit. 

277. There are several other groups of "worms" of considerable interest to the 
zoologist, sometimes classed with the Annelida, which it seems necessary to pass 
by with mere mention. (See also §236). 

Class: Archi-annelida; a few primitive forms, as Polygordius (Fig. 106). 
Class: Sipunculoidea {Gephyrea). With traces of segmentation in the embryo, 
but not in the adult. 

Class: Chaetognatha (arrow worms). 

Some authors would place here also the Rotifers (see §235). 

278. Suggestive Studies for Library and Laboratory. 

1. Look up the characteristics of the Archi-annelida, the Gephyrea, or Sagitta, 
and report on their likenesses to the types studied. 

2. On what grounds might the rotifers be associated with the Annulata? 

3. Compare the "segments" in cestodes and Annulata. 

4. In the Chaetopoda which sets of organs pass through all the segments, which 
are repeated in essentially all, and which are limited to a few? 

5. Examine and report on the habits of the earthworm. (Study in its natural 
haunts or in box of moist earth in laboratory.) What are its haunts? Method 
and rate of burrowing? Does it avoid water? What is its food? How taken? 
Does the animal prefer light or darkness? 

6. If near the sea-shore select other forms and report in a similar way. 

7. Investigate parasitism among the Annelida. 

8. What is the economic value of the earthworm? Of other worms? 

9. Make a study from the text-books of the reproductive organs in any of the 
hermaphrodite Oligochaeta. 

10. In how many. species of aquatic Oligochasta do you find reproduction by 
fission ? In what particulars does the process seem to differ in the different species ? 

11. Outline the life-history of Autolytus, including the origin of the sexes. 



CHAPTER XVI 

PHYLUM X.— MOLLUSCA 

Laboratory Exercises 

279. The Clam (My a) or Mussel (Anodonta, Unio). — Either 
the marine or the fresh-water type will serve. The latter are 
to be found in almost all our streams and small lakes. They 
may be obtained with a long-handled rake from the shore or 
from a boat. They often occur partly buried in the sand or 
mud. If kept in water they may be transported to the labora- 
tory and placed in a tub of water with a few inches of sand at 
the bottom, where something of the physiology may be studied 
with profit. If they cannot be collected when needed for study, 
they should be well hardened and covered with the preservative 
fluid in which they are to be kept. 

1, The Living Animal. — What facts were observed, in col- 
lecting the material, concerning their haunts, their abundance 
in different localities, their range in size, etc. ? Are there any 
efforts at active feeding, as far as you have seen? Do you 
think all your specimens belong to the same species ? 

In nature or from the specimens in the tub, make out the 
following points : 

Has the animal power of voluntary motion ? If so, what of 
its rate, manner, and the position of the animal during motion ? 
Note the trail. Determine anterior and posterior ends, right 
and left sides, dorsal and ventral surfaces. How is this done ? 
To what extent can the soft parts protrude from the shell ? 
Note briefly, for later reference, the position of all visible struc- 
tures. How widely does the shell open during life? With a 
pipette place a drop of some colored but harmless fluid (carmine 
in water) near the fringes of the posterior end, and note the 
results. Vary by introducing salt, sugar, and acid in the solu- 
tion. Devise experiments to test whether the animal shows 

240 



MOLLUSCA 241 

sensitiveness to stimuli of various sorts: jars, contacts, currents 
in the water, light, warmth and cold. 

2. General Form. — Renew your observations concerning the 
symmetry of the clam by careful examination of the animal. 
Determine and show in a sketch all the points distinguishing 
the anterior and posterior ends. Are the right and left halves 
symmetrical ? Use a pair of empty shells for more complete 
study. 

The shell: what is the relation between the valves? How 
are they held together? Are they normally open or closed? 
Give your evidences ? To what extent may the shell open with- 
out doing violence to the animal ? How does the shell vary in 
thickness at various parts? Contrast the interior and exterior 
as to finish and markings. Make note of everything found, 
with outline drawings, showing position. Locate the following 
regions and structures: — hinge, umbo or beak (a prominence 
near the hinge), hinge ligament, hinge teeth, pallial line .(a slight 
depression marking the attachment of the mantle muscle) , mus- 
cle impressions, lines of growth. Review after studying soft 
parts. 

What layers are discoverable in a broken shell? How do 
the inner, outer, and middle layers differ in thickness and 
appearance ? 

Do you find any differences worthy of note in different 
individuals ? 

3. Soft Parts. — Remove the left valve by cutting the two 
muscles which hold the valves together. Leave all the soft 
parts in the right valve as little disturbed as possible. Make 
a sketch showing the relation of the body to the shell. If there 
is any difficulty in cutting the muscles, the clam may be made 
to open by immersing it in water heated to about 140 F. 
Identify: 

Left mantle flap. How related to the right ? to the shell ? 

Siphons : modifications of the posterior margins of the mantle. 
(These will be conspicuous or rudimentary in accordance with 
the species studied.) Number ? 

Adductor muscles of the valves; number and position. 

Mantle cavity. Separate the right and left mantle lobes 
16 



242 ZOOLOGY 

along the ventral margin, except in the region of the siphon, 
and fold back the left. Where is it attached to the body? 
The ventral or incurrent siphon opens into the branchial chamber, 
the dorsal or excurrent into a smaller dorsal chamber, — the cloaca. 
Verify and sketch. 

Gill plates or sheets; number and attachment. Are they 
symmetrical on the two sides? The eggs and developing em- 
bryos may be found in the outer gill cavity at favorable times. 
(A special study and report may be profitably made by some 
student on the structure of the gills as shown by a hand lens 
and the low power of the microscope. A bit of the living gill 
from a fresh specimen should be examined.) 

Abdomen, — the soft, fleshy mass between the pairs of gills, 
which terminates in a more solid part, — 

Foot : position and form ? 

Mouth and labial palps; at the anterior end and just below 
the adductor muscle. How many palps ? 

(It is to be remembered that all the structures examined thus 
far are external organs. The body wall has not been penetrated 
at all. If h is the plan to study the anatomy more closely, 
the following are the chief sets of organs deserving attention.) 

4. Other systems of organs. 

Circulatory system. Open the pericardial cavity, just beneath the hinge and 
a little posterior thereto, and find the 

Heart: auricles and ventricle. In a fresh preparation the contractions of 

the heart may be observed. 
Vessels: one passes in each direction, but they are not easily followed 

without injecting. 
The intestine passes through the ventricle without open communication 
with it. 
Excretory organ. 

Organ of Bojanus, or kidney, lies just beneath the floor of the "pericardial 

cavity, one part on either side. 
Each portion is a dark-colored sac, with an abundant blood supply. 
Nervous system. (Traced best in hardened preparations.) 

Visceral ganglia. Look between the gills in the posterior portion of the 
body, beneath the posterior adductor muscle, and in the floor of the 
cloacal cavity. Number, and closeness of connection ? By careful dis- 
section determine what nerves leave them. Trace a pair of these forward 
to the 
Cerebral ganglia, on either side the mouth. Note the connections between 
the cerebral ganglia. Trace from these ganglia the connectives which 
pass ventrally to the 



MOLLUSCA 243 

Pedal ganglia in the muscular foot, close to its union with the abdomen. 
Make a clear diagram showing the relations of these three pairs of ganglia. 
Digestive system. 

Begin with the intestine at the heart. Trace posteriorly to the anus. 

What is its relation to the posterior adductor muscle? Pass a bristle 

into the intestine anteriorly and use it to guide the dissection. Trace 

the intestine through the abdominal mass, and plot its course. Identify 

the stomach, the esophagus, and the mouth. The liver is a brownish 

or greenish mass surrounding the stomach. 

Much of the visceral mass through which the intestine coils is made up of 

the large reproductive glands which open into the mantle cavity. 

5. Cross Sections. — A series of cross sections may be made, numbered, and 

used with profit as demonstrations. For such sections the soft parts of the animal 

should be hardened for 24 hours in 1 per cent, chromic acid; then one day each 

in 70 per cent, and 90 per cent, alcohol. Keep in 95 per cent, alcohol for a few 

weeks. Cut one-fourth to one-third inch thick and number so as to be able to 

locate position of section. Float in dish of alcohol and identify the parts found. 

Make sketches of sections passing (1) through the stomach, (2) through the heart, 

and (3) through the middle of the posterior adductor muscle. 

280. The Oyster. — One or two students should prepare a report on the struc- 
ture of the oyster and present to the class an account of the chief points of contrast 
between the oyster and the clam. The adult oyster is fixed by one of its valves. 
Is it the same one in all specimens ? 

281. The Pond Snail (Limncea). 

1. The Living Animal. — Observe, both in its natural home 
and in glass vessel containing water, in the laboratory. 

To what does the animal adhere in the water ? Must it have 
solid support ? Can it swim ? What is its method of locomo- 
tion ? What does it eat, and how ? Can you determine whether 
it uses the air in breathing or gets its oxygen from the water? 
Proof? How is the gliding motion effected? Watch, with a 
lens, one crawling along the side of the glass vessel. Record 
signs of sensitiveness to stimuli, by experiments of your own 
devising. 

2. General Form. — Is there any sign of bilateral symmetry? 
In what parts ? How are anterior and posterior distinguished ? 
Relation of the shell to the animal ? Identify : — 

Head: tentacles, number and position; eyes, number and 
position. 

Foot, the muscular expansion: shape, changes in form and 
position. 



244 ZOOLOGY 

Mouth. 

Respiratory orifice, position. Under what circumstances 
seen? 

3. Shell (secure empty ones). — Make sketches of the shell 
and identify the structures referred to in the following terms: 
apex, aperture, lip, spire, whorl, suture, columella. (See 
Pig. no). 

How would you describe the direction of the spiral? How 
many whorls? Have the young and old the same number? 
Can you detect lines of growth ? 

4. Soft Parts. — These may be removed by dropping the animal suddenly into 
hot water, and then gradually twisting the soft portion from the shell. It will 
scarcely repay the trouble to do more than re-identify the following parts: mouth, 
respiratory orifice, mantle and mantle chamber, and collar (a portion of the 
mantle). The spiral is occupied by the digestive tract, its glands, the reproduc- 
tive bodies, etc. 

5. Development. — Examine the stems of plants and the sides of the vessel 
in which snails have been kept for some days for gelatinous capsules of eggs. They 
are almost transparent and the eggs may be easily located. What seems to be 
the value of the gelatine? Number and arrangement of the eggs? What is the 
shape of the eggs? Get the earliest stages possible, and watch day by day *at 
short intervals, or compare capsules of different ages. If care is taken, some idea 
of the early segmentation stages may be obtained. Look for theblastula: are the 
cells of the same size? Do you find a gastrula? What are the first signs you find 
of differentiation of parts? Look for different stages of the later development. 
It will not be profitable to try to follow the changes in detail. 

282. A very valuable laboratory exercise may be had by comparing large 
numbers of shells of a single species, found under varying conditions. Compare 
as to shape, markings, etc., and see whether there are individuals connecting your 
extreme groups. The land snail (Helix, Fig. 121) is favorable for such study. 
Helix may be substituted for Limncea. 

283. The Squid. — The laboratory should have a few specimens of the Squid. 
Make drawings showing all external features. 

Note particularly: — 

Head: tentacles, number, comparative length; suckers on the inner surface, 

arrangement of suckers. 
Eyes: number, size, position. 

Olfactory organs opening beneath folds of skin behind the eyes. 
Neck. 

Body: general shape. It is surrounded by the 
Mantle; note the fin expansions at the posterior end. Where are the 

attachments of the mantle to the body? 
Siphon; how related to the mantle cavity? 



MOLLUSCA 245 

What are your conclusions as to the symmetry and the normal position of the 
squid? Do you find anything from your external examination which would lead 
you to class it with the clam and the snail? 

Descriptive Text 

284. The group Mollusca (mollis, soft) embraces about 
65,000 living species among which there are very great differ- 
ences as illustrated by forms as unlike as slugs, snails, oysters, 
clams, devil-fishes, and squids. With the exception of a few, 
they are sluggish animals and largely aquatic or frequenters of 
moist places. Some are well' protected by external armor and 
others are perfectly naked. The typical adult mollusk is 
clearly marked off from both the radiate animals such as echin- 
oderms and the segmented animals such as the arthropods and 
the Annelida, but some of the simpler types of mollusks, and 
the larvae of certain of them which undergo a metamorphosis, 
strongly suggest that they may be related to some of the worms. 

285. General Characters. 

1. Body soft, unsegmented, bilaterally symmetrical and 
without segmented appendages. 

2. Organ of locomotion a muscular thickening of the body, 
called the foot; variously modified. 

3. A thickened dorsal fold of the body wall, called the 
mantle, usually present, enclosing a space, external to the body, 
known as the respiratory chamber. 

4. Often a calcareous shell, secreted by. the mantle usually 
becoming either spiral or separated into a right and left valve. 

5. Central nervous system usually consisting of three sets 
of ganglia: (1) the cerebral or "brain," above the mouth, (2) 
the pedal, in the foot and connected with the cerebral by nerves, 
and (3) the visceral, also connected with the brain by a pair of 
nerves (Fig. 38). 

6. Except in the headless forms (Acalephs) a tooth-bearing 
ribbon, the odontophore, present in the mouth. 

286. General Survey. — The more commonly known forms 
are easily recognizable by the hard calcareous shell which 
protects the soft unsegmented body within. The shell may be 



246 ZOOLOGY 

in two sub-equal valves, right and left, or may be in one piece, 
in which case it is usually coiled or spiral (Fig. no). The 
bivalved types are able to open and close the shell, and the soft 
parts are capable of protrusion from the partly opened shell. 
This latter power is much more pronounced in the univalved 
types (e.g., snail). The fundamental bilateral symmetry is 
obscured in the more sluggish forms, but is very decided in such 
active animals as the squid and some of the bivalves. 



._«.<£./>. 



<tJ.,a/.-- 



Pig. 109. Shell of a Bivalve Mollusk, inner surface, ad.a., depression showing the attach- 
ment of the anterior adductor muscle; ad.p., posterior adductor muscle; h, hinge with teeth; I, 
attachments of the ligaments; p, pallial line, marking the attachment of the mantle muscles; s, 
the pallial sinus, marking the attachment of the retractor muscles of the siphon; u, umbo or beak. 

Questions on the figure. — Which is the dorsal and which the ventral portion 
of the shell? Is this the right or left valve? What is the effect of the contraction 
of the adductor muscles? What is the value of the teeth on the hinge? To what 
point in the shell of the snail does the umbo correspond ? 

One of the most interesting points of difference among the 
members of the group is the degree of development of the 
"head." In the bivalves (lamellibranchs) there is a very 
slight cephalization, or collection of special organs about the 
anterior end. For this reason they are often called Acalephs. 
In the gasteropods (snails, etc.) and cephalopods (squid), on 
the other hand, the head is well developed both as to special 
mouth parts and nervous organs. 



MOLLUSCA 247 

The forms with shells are somewhat more limited in size 
than the cephalopods, which furnish the largest representatives 
of the phylum, measuring in extreme cases 20 to 40 feet in the 
reach of the arms. 

The calcareous shell insures abundant fossil remains, repre- 
sentatives being found in various geologic formations from the 
beginning of the Palaeozoic era to the present. 

Fig. i 10. 

^_^ — ^_ CL- 



Fig. 1 10. Helix. A, an empty shell in section from apex to base. B, the relation of the 
animal to the shell when extended, a, apex of shell; an., anus; ap. aperture of shell; e. columella 
or axis of shell; e. eyestalk; /, foot; I, lip of shell; m, edge of mantle, which secretes the shell; r.a^, 
respiratory aperture; s, suture, between the whorls; t, tentacles. 

Questions on the figures. — What suggestions of bilateral symmetry are 
shown by the snail? Where does growth occur in the shell? What are the func- 
tions of the tentacles? What is the function of the edge of the mantle called the 
"collar" (m)7 

287. Integument (skin). — This consists of a layer of epi- 
dermal cells, covering a deeper dermal layer derived from the 
mesoderm. The former is made up chiefly of the supporting 
cells and the simple glandular cells which secrete mucus, or 
lime, or pigment. In many forms a large portion of the epi- 
thelium in the mantle cavity (as the inner surface of the mantle 
and the covering of the gills in lamellibranchs) is ciliated. The 
dermis is a complex of connective tissue, muscle fibres, pigment 
cells, etc. The mantle is a fold of the integument which is very 



248 ZOOLOGY 

characteristic of Mollusca. It grows out from the dorsal wall 
of the body and encloses a space known as the mantle cavity. 
It is usually important in respiration, and contains the shell- 
glands, 

288. Shells are formed in all the classes of Mollusca, al- 
though naked forms occur in several of them. The shell is a 
true secretion or excretion, deposited by the epithelial layer of 
the mantle. It consists of three layers: (a) a thin external 
layer of organic material known as conchiolin, (b) the prismatic 
layer, embracing the greater thickness of the shell and made up 
of prisms of carbonate of lime cemented by conchiolin, and (c) 
the nacreous or pearly layer over the inner surface. The edge 
of the mantle secretes the first and second layers, and they 
usually show lines of growth parallel with the edge of the mantle; 
the pearly layer is deposited by the whole surface of the mantle. 
The point of attachment of the muscles presents a depression in 
this layer because the deposit has been interrupted (see pallial 
line and muscle scars, Fig. 109; and in shell of clam). 

In some Cephalopods there is an internal skeleton in part 
secreted by the mantle (cuttle bone), and in part formed of 
cartilage (the. brain case). 

289. The muscular system is made up of unstriped muscle 
fibres, which usually occur in more or less prominent bands or 
muscles. These may be classified as follows: (1) shell or skeletal 
muscles, which embrace (a) adductors, those which draw the 
valves together (lamellibranchs), (b) retractors, which withdraw 
the whole or special portions of the animal into the shell (lamel- 
libranchs and gasteropods) , (c) protractors, or extensors, which 
enable the animal partly to extend itself; (2) pallial (mantle) 
muscles, best developed in cephalopods; (3) the foot, which is a 
mass of muscle and is one of the most characteristic of the 
molluscan organs; and (4) minor muscles controlling the radula 
or tongue, the other mouth parts, and the like. 

Locomotion, in the group is accomplished chiefly by the foot, 
in its various modifications, or by rhythmic opening and shut- 
ting of the valves. The squid has a fin-like extension of the 
integument which is an efficient organ of forward motion. The 



MOLLUSCA 249 

siphon of the same animal is regarded as a modification of a part 
of the foot and takes part in backward locomotion. The ten- 
tacles about the mouth are also looked upon as arising from the 
anterior part of the foot, hence the name Cephalopoda, which 
means "head-footed." 

290. Digestive Organs. — Mouth and anus both occur, and 
are usually widely separated. In the coiled forms (as the snail), 
however, by the looping of the digestive tract they are brought 
close together. In all except the group of headless mollusks 
(lamellibranchs) the mouth is supplied with a radula, or tooth- 
bearing tongue. This lies in the floor of the mouth and, as it is 
worn away in front, is renewed from behind in the radula sac 
(Fig. in). It rasps small particles from solids and conveys 




Fig. hi. Diagram of mouth of snail, showing the lingual ribbon (radula). br, brain; c, buccal 
cavity; co., ccelom; g, gullet; j, jaw, against which the radula works; m, mouth; r„ radula; r.s., 
radula sac, in which the radula is renewed as it is worn away in front. 

Questions on the figure. — What parts go to make up the "odontophore?" 
How do the parts act in biting? 



them backward into the esophagus. In the gasteropods there 
is a plate in the upper jaw against which this organ works. In 
the cephalopods beak-like jaws occur suited to their carnivorous 
habit. The mouth is followed by a gullet, which may com- 
municate at once with the stomach (lamellibranchs), or may 
expand into a crop (gasteropods and cephalopods) . The stomach 
is well marked and opens into the intestine which is usually long 
enough to make one or more coils in the body mass. It may 
open externally (gasteropods) or in the mantle chamber (cepha- 
olpods and lamellibranchs). Salivary glands pour their secre- 



250 



ZOOLOGY 



tion into the mouth cavity or into the gullet, and the so-called 
liver connects with the stomach or intestine. 



291. Respiration. — The oxygen may be derived from the 
water (lamellibranchs, cephalopods, and some gasteropods) 
or from the air (pulmonate gasteropods). In the latter a 
pulmonary chamber is formed by the mantle. Blood is richly 
supplied to the walls of this sac and is there aerated after the 
manner of lungs. In the water-breathing forms the gills are 

Fig. 112. 




m 



Fig. 112. Diagram showing the heart and general course of the circulation in the Lamelli- 
branchs. Only a short section is shown, a, auricle (right), with slit to ventricle; b, the body 
(region of spaces, lacunae, capillaries); g, the region of the gills, with capillaries; k, kidneys, with 
their capillaries; m, the mantle and capillaries; v, the ventricle from which arteries pass forward and 
backward; v.c, "vena cava," in which the blood collects on returning from the tissues of the body. 

Questions on the figure. — Follow by the arrows and letters the general course of 
the blood flow. How many sets of capillaries are passed by the blood which goes 
to the mantle? By that which goes to the system, before returning to the heart? 
What changes take place in the blood in the capillaries of the various regions? 

variously constructed. Lamellibranchs possess a pair of "gill- 
plates" hanging in the mantle cavity on either side the body. 
These are made up of an immense number of ciliated tubular 
filaments which intercommunicate in a complicated lattice- 
work. To the naked eye they appear as thin sheets with stria- 



MOLLUSCA 



251 



tions passing from the dorsal to the ventral margin (see dissec- 
tion of clam). The walls of the gills contain blood vessels, and 
the water, assisted by the action of the cilia, circulates over and 
through the gills. In the cephalopods and aquatic gasteropods 
the gills occur as tufts of filaments, which may or may not be 
covered by the mantle. In addition to these special organs the 
mantle and the soft body surface assist in respiration. (For 
figures of the gill structure in the clam see Parker and Haswell's 
Text-book of Zoology, Vol. I, Fig. 669.) 

292. Circulation. — There is usually a well-developed circu- 
lation of the blood, but a portion of it occurs through irregular 
spaces devoid of walls proper. The organs consist of a contrac- 
tile heart usually with undivided ventricle and a single auricle 

Fig. 113. 

heart 




tissues 



tissues 



Fig. 113. Diagram showing the general course of the circulation in mollusks. Compare with 
Fig. 112, which shows the organs more nearly in their relative position. 

Question on the figure. — Why does the blood which passes to the mantle not 
need to pass th e gills before returning to the heart? 

(gasteropods), or one pair of auricles (lamellibranchs, squid), 
or two pairs {Nautilus). Definite arteries pass both forward 
and backward from the ventricle. The blood passes from the 
ventricle to the tissues of the body, whence it gathers into 
venous spaces and passes into the kidneys and the gills by way of 
a principal vein. From the gills it finds its way to the auricles. 
In lamellibranchs the blood which goes from the ventricle to 
the mantle is aerated and returns directly to the auricle. In 
some cephalopods there are branchial hearts near the gills to 



252 ZOOLOGY 

assist the return of the blood to the heart. The accompanying 
diagrams (Figs. 112, 113) will help the student follow the main 
facts of the circulation. In lamellibranchs the ventricle often 
surrounds the intestine. The corpuscles are colorless and 
amoeboid. The plasma, however, quite commonly contains a 
bluish pigment (hcemocyanin) which assists respiration in much 
the same way as the haemoglobin of the vertebrates. 

293. Excretory Organs. — In mollusks the excretory organs 
consist, when reduced to the simplest terms, of one or more 
nephridia which communicate interiorly with the pericardium 
or principal ccelomic space, and with the exterior by way of a 
tubular ureter. The kidney portion of the tube is much 
modified, has glandular walls and is well supplied with blood 
vessels. It lies in the immediate region of the pericardial 
chamber in most cases. 

294. Nervous System. — The nervous system of mollusks 
is usually made up of at least three pairs of ganglia: (a) the 
" brain" or cerebral ganglia dorsal to the mouth and varying 
in size according to the degree of development of the head; 
(b) connected with the brain by a pair of connectives are the 
pedal ganglia lying ventral to the mouth and innervating the 
foot; (c) the pleuro-visceral ganglia variously situated in the 
different groups and connected with the brain or both with the 
brain and the pedal ganglia. From it nerves pass to the mantle, 
and to the posterior organs. In gasteropods and cephalopods 
all these ganglia are much closer together and are collected 
about the mouth. Still other ganglia are often associated 
with them. The student should notice how this collection of 
nervous matter accompanies the development of ''head" 
organs in the better developed members of the phylum. 

295. The Organs of Special Sense. — As usual, scattered 
sensory cells are situated in the exposed epithelial surfaces. 
These give rise to a diffuse sensitiveness to tactile and chemi- 
cal stimuli. The edges of the mantle and the tentacles are 
especially sensitive. Patches of sensory cells— osphradia — 
are often found near the bases of the gills, which probably 



MOLLUSCA 



253 



have a value in testing the character of the water flowing over 
them. Still other patches occur about the lips. Otocysts or 
statocysts (see §111), occur in all the groups. Eyes are usually 
found and are of various degrees of complexity. They are 
simplest in the lamellibranchs (Fig. 43), and when found at all 
in this group may occur in great numbers along the mantle. 

Fig. 114. 




Fig. 114. Diagram of a dissection of the reproductive organs of a snail, a.g., albumen gland; 
c.d., common or hermaphrodite duct; e.g., hermaphrodite gland; d.s., dart sac;/, flagellum; g, genital 
aperture; m.g., mucous glands; o, oviduct; p, penis; r.s., receptaculum seminis; v.d., vas deferens. 
The slit from the genital aperture into the oviduct and penis shows the openings of the dart sac, 
mucous glands, and the receptaculum seminis. (After Pelseneer.) 

Questions on the figure. — By a careful study of the figure and the text, de- 
termine the functions of the various parts of the system. Does self-fertilization 
occur in a form like this ? Evidences. 



In the gasteropods the eyes are borne on the ends of tentacles 
and are frequently destroyed by accidents. The animals have 
the power of regenerating the tentacle, — eye and all. This 
manifestly is a very useful adaptation. The eyes of cephalopods 
are the most perfect jingle eyes found among the invertebrates. 



254 ZOOLOGY 

Though originating in a different way, these are strikingly like' 
the vertebrate eye. 

The forms with shells are not so responsive to stimuli as 
free types such as cephalopods,- but even the snails, and in less 
degree the clams, are sensitive to light, contact, gravity, 
chemical states of the air and water that would in us arouse the 
sense of taste or smell. The most characteristic reaction of the 
lower forms is to withdraw into the shell or to close it. Gravity 
and light and odor also direct their motions. 

296. Library Reference. — Make a report on the position and general structure 
of the eyes in gasteropods, cephalopods and lamellibranchs. 

297. Reproduction and the Genital Organs. — Reproduction 
is always sexual. In some of the lamellibranchs (e.g., oyster) 
and many of the simpler gasteropods, including the land snails, 
the individuals are hermaphrodite. The sexes are separate in 
the cephalopods and in most of the lamellibranchs and gastero- 
pods. The organs are more complicated among the her- 
maphrodite gasteropods than elsewhere in the group (see diagram, 
reproductive organs of snail, Fig. 114). The sexual glands are 
usually situated in the visceral mass among the coils of the 
intestine. The ducts ordinarily open into the mantle cavity, 
where fertilization may occur. The eggs after fertilization are 
often, either singly or in masses, surrounded by a gelatinous 
secretion (as in the snail) which serves as a protection from 
drouth and as a means of attachment. In lamellibranchs the 
young are not infrequently retained in the gill cavities until 
partly developed. 

298. Development.— Segmentation is total (lamellibranchs 
and gasteropods) or partial anddiscoidal (dibranch cephalopods). 
It is usually unequal in the lamellibranchs and gasteropods, 
but in some of the latter it is equal during the first two divisions, 
producing four equal blast omeres. Each of these divides into 
a large and a small cell — macromere and micromere. Still other 
micromeres are formed at the expense of the macromeres, 
and these by continued division form a cap of ectodermal cells 
(Fig. 115). From the macromeres arise ultimately the ento- 
derm and mesoderm. The gastrula may be formed either by 



MOLLUSCA 



255 



invagination of the large cells or by trie overgrowth of the 
micromeres, depending on the size of the segmentation cavity 
and of the entodermal cells. In the cephalopods, owing to the 
large supply of food substance in the ovum, cleavage is confined 
to a small disc at the active pole. From this point where the 
embryo is destined to be developed, a sheet of cells gradually 
extends itself by growth around the yolk. Thus a yolk-sac is 
formed by means of which the food is used in the further de- 
velopment of the embryo. By the time the embryo is hatched 
the yolk is exhausted. Although the yolk does not segment we 
see that it serves its purpose in the development of the embryo. 

Fig. 115. 




mes.- — tSr& 




-ent. 



Fig. lis. Diagram of early segmentation stages in a Gasteropod. A, 2-celled stage; B, 4- 
celled; C, 8-celled; D, later stage, in section, ect., ectoderm cells (micromeres); ent.. entoderm cells, 
macromeres; mes., mesoblasts, early put aside, — before gastrulation — to form the mesoderm; mi., 
micromeres; ma., macromeres. 

Questions on the figures. — What causes are assigned for the difference in the 
size of the cells in the 8-celled stage? In what other ways is mesoderm formed 
in the metazoa ? Which cells seem to divide more rapidly, the micromeres or the 
macromeres? Compare with Annelid, Fig. 105. 



The later development is typically indirect, i.e., with a metamor- 
phosis, though many (as the cephalopods) develop directly into 
the adult form. A larval stage {trocho sphere) occurs, suggesting 
the larvae of the Pplychaeta. This is followed by another stage 
{veliger) which is more characteristic of the mollusks. 

299. Library Exercises. — Students may well supplement the text by making 
short reports on the following topics: the early segmentation of lamellibranchs 
and gasteropods; of the cephalopods; the veliger of mollusks; the formation of the 



256 ZOOLOGY 

organs in cephalopods; development in the clam or mussel. Illustrations should 
be found in the advanced text-books and presented to the class. 

300. Ecology. — The bivalves are sedentary or sluggish in 
their manner of life; the motion of most of the gasteropods 
is slow and difficult. In conformity with their limited powers 
of locomotion, they are scavengers, feeding on the debris and 
the small animals and plants brought to them by the water 
currents (oysters, mussels, etc.), or are largely herbivorous 
(many snails). A very few are parasitic. The cephalopods 
are much more active and are carnivorous. For the most part 
the sluggish forms are well protected by the shells, neverthe- 
less they furnish food for many diverse sorts of animals. Some 
of their enemies are internal parasites, others bore through the 
shells and thus gain access to vital parts. 

The animal within may thwart this attack of its enemies by 
the continued secretion of mother-of-pearl on the inner sur- 
face at the threatened point. Some animals crush the shells, 
or swallow the mollusks, shell and all. Starfishes, as we have 
seen, are especially troublesome to the oyster beds. 

Many of the bivalves are capable of still further protection 
because of their elongated siphons which enable them to 
burrow deeply in the mud or sand, the food being carried in 
through the siphons by the water currents (Fig. 116). Several 
species of marine bivalves have the power of boring into wood 
or even stone. This serves as a protection to them, but often 
results in the complete destruction of piles and other structures 
placed in the ocean by man. 

Many of the mollusks seem more or less gregarious, as is 
illustrated by beds of clams and oysters, the schools of squid, 
etc. 

, Notwithstanding the low organization and sluggishness of 
a large portion of the branch Mollusca, we are compelled to 
consider that it has been a very successful group in that it 
has held its place with practically equal numbers through the 
geological ages, and has succeeded in adapting itself to the 
changes in conditions during those ages. Of no less interest is 
the additional fact that there is scarcely a nook, into which they 
have not penetrated, except where continuous drouth prevails. 



MOLLUSCA 



257 



On the other hand, it is among the more active types — the 
cephalopods — that the ancient geological forms have least suc- 
cessfully adapted themselves to modern conditions. The cepha- 
lopods appear much less numerous and varied now than in 
earlier geological time, although the types which have persisted 
are the most perfect and active ones that have appeared. 

301. Relation to Human Interests. — This is the first phylum 
that we have studied that furnishes any food, worthy of mention, 

Fig. 116. 







Fig. 116. 



Mya arenaria, a burrowing clam. The siphon is represented as fully extended, 
quickly retracted when the animal is disturbed. (After Kingsley.) 



This is 



Questions on the figure. — What is the function of the much elongated siphons? 
Which is the anterior end of the animal? Which the dorsal side? What would 
seem to be the chief function of the foot in this case? 



to man. It is estimated that about $15,000,000 annually are 
derived from our oyster fisheries. There are several species of 



17 



258 ZOOLOGY 

clams and mussels that are used for food. Less frequently 
snails and squid are eaten. 

Pearl buttons, knife handles, and other objects are made 
from the "mother-of-pearl" shells of mollusks. ' Pearls, one of 
the most prized ornaments, are produced by a number of species, 
notably fresh-water mussels and the marine pearl oyster. 

Squid produce cuttle bone and sepia, and are used for codfish 
bait. 

The oyster industry and the clam-shell industry have become 
so extensive that they have ceased to be merely " fisheries. 7 ' 
Promiscuous fishing, if profitable, always results in threatening 
the whole industry. The next step is to limit fishing or devise 
means of encouraging the growth of the organisms, or both. 
This has been done for the oyster and is beginning for the clam. 
The steps involved are to favor the young by artificial means, to 
give them suitable places to settle, to furnish them with food, 
and to protect them from enemies and unfavorable environment. 
This is a form of "farming," rather than fishing. Coupled with 
legal limitations upon fishing such measures make for steadiness 
of supply, and should be encouraged in every way possible. 

302. Classification. — The following are the principal classes: 
Class I. Pelecypoda (hatchet-footed) or Lamellibranchiata; (Mussels, Oysters, 
etc.). — Lamellibranchs are mollusks in which the fundamental bilateral sym- 

Fig. 117. 




Fig. 117. Ensis americanus, the razor clam. From Verrill, after Gould. 

Questions on the figure. — Where is the hinge, the umbo, etc. ? Trace the lines 
of growth and compare with 'other figures of bivalves. 

metry is shown in the right and left valves of the shell secreted by a bilobed 
mantle, and in some of the internal organs. There may be one or two adductor 
muscles. The head is undeveloped. The ventral body region is differentiated 
into a muscular foot, shaped like a plow-share. The gills are in sheets (see 
§291) usually two on either side, and are suspended in the mantle cavity. Paired 
labial palps occur about the otherwise unspecialized mouth. The three pairs of 
ganglia — the cerebro-pleural, the pedal, and the visceral, — are usually well sepa-' 



MOLLUSCA 



259 



rated. The heart consists of two auricles and one ventricle surrounded by a 
pericardial space, which is a portion of the body cavity and communicates with 
the exterior by a pair of nephridial tubes. The reproductive organs are simple; 
the sexes are ordinarily separate. Development by a metamorphosis. 

[The primary subdivisions of the group may be made on the basis either of the 
gill structure, the adductor muscles, or the presence or absence of the siphon.] 

Order 1. Isomya: Two adductor muscles which are essentially equal. 

(a) Siphon well developed, retractile; pallial line (Fig. 109) with a sinus. 
Here occurs Mya arenaria, the common clam of the Atlantic coast. Great heaps 
of shells of this clam show that it was much used by the Indian tribes as food. 
In New England the clam fisheries are of very considerable importance. Mya 
burrows in the mud, using its long siphon to keep it in connection with the water 
from which it gets its food. Of somewhat similar habits is the razor-shell clam 

Fig. 118. 




Fig. 118. Mytilus edulis, a Mussel. From Binney's Gould. 

Questions on the figure. — Identify the umbo. What are your evidences that 
it is the umbo? Compare the lines on the shell with those in Fig. 117. What 
is the significance of the specific name {edulis) ? What are the habits of the species ? 



(Fig. 117). The "borer" (Pholas) and the "ship- worm" (Teredo) belong to this 
group and possess the power of boring into wood or stone and are thus of much 
damage to submerged structures in waters where they abound. 

(b) Siphon usually present but not highly developed; no pallial sinus. In this 
group are embraced the more abundant fresh-water mussels (Unto, Anodonta, 
Cyclas), and the cockles (Cardium) of the ocean. The Unionidae are very widely 
distributed and very common in our own fresh waters. They are not much used 
for food at present, though the. Indians used them, probably in times of scarcity of 
other food. Their shells are widely employed in the making of buttons, knife 
handles and the like, and pearls of value are not of infrequent occurrence. These 
are merely the mother-of-pearl, which ordinarily lines the shell, secreted about 
some"" infected or irritated point on the epidermis of the mantle. Considerable 



260 



ZOOLOGY 



quantities of these pearls have occasionally been found in the graves of the mound 
builders. 

In some of the fresh-water clams there is an interesting temporary parasitism 
during the early development. When the young, called glochidia, escape from the 
gills of the mother, they must become attached to the fins or gills of a fish. 
They may become deeply imbedded and be nourished in the tissues of the host for 
several weeks. During this time they pass through their metamorphosis and 
develop the adult organs. This habit brings about a better distribution of the 
clams than would otherwise happen, since it has been shown that adult clams do 
not voluntarily migrate widely. 

Fig. 119. 




Fig. 119. Pecten irradians, — a Scallop. From Binney's Gould. 

Questions on the figure. — Is this an external or internal view of the shell? 
Where is the umbo? What is peculiar about the hinge in this case? What is the 
significance of the lines nearly concentric with the margin? Of the radial lines? 



Order 2. Heteromya: Two adductor muscles, the anterior much reduced; 
siphon usually wanting. Here are included the horse-mussel (Modiola) and 
Mytilus, edible mussels which occur in clusters just below low tide mark; also the 
pearl-oyster, from which the best pearls are taken. The last mentioned form is 
not found on our own coasts. 

Order 3. Monomya.: One adductor muscle (posterior) ; no siphon. The genus 
Ostrea (oyster) and the genus Pecten (scallop) are the most interesting and impor- 
tant representatives of this order. The species of Ostrea differ much in size in 
different regions. The largest living species is a Japanese form which is known to 
reach a length of two to three feet. The oyster is hermaphrodite. The young 
after a short free life, become attached by one of the valves. The oyster constitutes 
a larger element in the food supply of man than any other invertebrate. The 
scallops are not attached, and swim by a rapid opening and closing of their valves. 



MOLLUSCA 



26l 



Class II. Gasteropoda (belly-footed; Snails, Slugs, Whelks, and Periwinkles). — 
Gasteropods are mollusks with unsymmetrical, univalved, usually spiral shells 
(occasionally lacking the shell altogether). The head and foot ordinarily preserve 
the bilateral symmetry, but the other organs lose their symmetry both from the 
spiral form of the shell and from a twisting which many of the forms undergo by 
which the nervous system and certain other visceral organs lose their original right 
and left relations. The head region is well developed, having tentacles, eyes, and 
a mouth with a tooth-bearing radula. Gills in the mantle cavity two, one, or 
none; in the air-breathing forms there may be merely a pulmonary sac. The sexes 
are separate (Streptoneura) or united in one individual (land snails). Development 
is mostly indirect. 



Fig. 120. 



Fig. 121. 





Fig. 120. Acmcea lestudinalis (Limpet), from Binney's Gould. Upper figure lateral view; lower 

figure, dorsal view. 

Questions on the figure. — How do the Limpets differ from the majority of the 
snails? What is the appropriateness of the specific name (testudinalis)? 

Fig. 121. Helix albolabris, a pulmonate Gasteropod. From Binney's Gould. 

Questions on the figure. — What is the significance of Helix? Of albolabris? 
Identify the parts of the shell. Is it a right or left spiral? What do you mean by 
your answer? 



Subclass I. Streptoneura. — Gasteropods in which the nerve loop made by the 
visceral commissures, is twisted in development into the form of the figure 8; the 
other visceral organs are twisted so that right and left are interchanged. Only one 
pair of tentacles on the head. Sexes separate. Gills usually in front of the 
heart. 

One of the common representatives of this group is Littorina, the common 
periwinkle of the seashore. Many other types of almost infinite variety of form, 
size, and color inhabit the ocean, their shells often being washed ashore by the 
waves; such are the cowries, the whelks, the cone-shells, etc. Here belong the 
uncoiled Limpet and the slightly coiled Crepidula or boat-shell. 

Subclass II. Euthyneura (Land Snails and many naked Mollusks). — Gastero- 



262 



ZOOLOGY 



pods in which the nerve loop is not twisted. The head usually bears two pairs of 
tentacles. The sexes are united in the same individual. The most important 
of these are the Pulmonata or air breathing Gasteropoda, some of which are 
terrestrial and others aquatic. Of the terrestrial snails the genus Helix (Fig. 121) 

is the most widely distributed. Its variability is such that between three and 

Fig. 122. 




Fig. 122. Limax flav us, a Slug. Prom Binney's Gould. 

Questions on the figure. — How do the slugs differ from the other gasteropods? 
In what external respects do they appear similar to them? Compare all the 
figures of slugs you may be able to find. 



Fig. 123. 




Fig. 1J3. Pearly Nautilus. From Nicholson, e, eye; h, hood, a muscular portion of the foot 
which protects the softer parts; s, siphon; se, septa, separating the successive chambers of the shell; 
sp, siph uncle; I, tentacles. 

Questions on the figure. — How does this shell compare with those of the 

gasteropods? What is considered to be the homology of the tentacles or arms in 

cephalopods? What is the siphuncle? What is the character of the eye in 
Nautilus? 



four thousand species have been described. Limax (Fig. 122) is a pulmonate form 
in which the shell is practically wanting. It is especially destructive to certain 
types of plants as it is a voracious vegetable feeder. The aquatic pulmonates are 
represented by the "pond-snail" (Limncea), and by Planorbis, a snail whose coils 
are in one plane, presenting a helix rather than a spiral. 



MOLLUSCA 



263 



Class III. Cephalopoda (head-footed; Squid, Devil-fish). — The cephalopods 
are bilaterally symmetrical mollusks with a well-developed head in which the front 
part of the foot surrounds the well-armed mouth as a series of lobes or tentacles. 
The head protrudes permanently from the mantle cavity, leaving the mantle 
surrounding the posterior part of the body. The posterior lobe of the foot forms 
a siphon, communicating with the mantle cavity. Into this cavity the nephridia, 
the anus, and the reproductive glands open, and in it the gills lie. The shell may 
be present and external (Nautilus), internal and slightly developed (Squid), or 
wanting (Octopus). An internal cartilaginous skeleton protects the brain. The 
ccelom is well developed. The ganglia of the nervous system are massed in the 
head region. The sexes are separate and the development direct. The Cephalo- 
poda are to be looked upon as the most highly developed of the Mollusca. They 
are little in evidence now, however, as compared with earlier times. 

Pig. 124. 




Fig. 124. The Devil-fish {Octopus). From Cooke, after Merculiano. A, at rest;- B, swimming, 
a, arms, with suckers on the inner aspect; e, eye; s, siphon or funnel. 

Questions on the figure. — Which is the anterior end of the animal? What 
is the position of the mouth? What is the function of the siphon? Of what 
structure is it a part? 



Subclass I. Tetrabranchiata. — Cephalopoda in which the front segment of the 
foot is divided into lobes bearing numerous tentacles, without suckers. Shells 
external and chambered (and in Nautilus, the only living genus, coiled). Two 
pairs of auricles; two pairs of gills; two pairs of nephridia. 

This group is important for its extinct rather than for its living representatives. 
The pearly or chambered nautilus (Fig. 123) found in the Pacific and Indian 
Oceans, is the only important living species. The Nautilus appears to be the only 
remaining representative of the once numerous coiled forms and more remotely 
still of the Orthoceratites, the rulers of the Palaeozoic seas (see Geology). 

Subclass II. Dibranchiata. — Cephalopods in which a circlet of 8 to 10 arms 
surround the mouth. These bear sucking discs. Shell internal and rudimentary 



264 



ZOOLOGY 



or absent. One pair of gills, one pair of nephridia, and one pair of auricles. An 
ink gland is present. 

Order 1, Decapoda, embraces the cuttle-fish and squid. 

Order 2, Octopoda, embraces the devil-fishes (Fig. 124) and the paper nautilus 
(Fig. 125). 

Fig. 125. 




Pig. 125. The Paper Nautilus {Argonauta argo). From Cooke, after Lacaze-Duthiers. e, eye; 
m, mouth;/, siphon; sh, shell; /, tentacles. 

Questions on the figure. — In what way does the siphon serve in locomotion? 
In which direction will the animal move by means of the siphon? How does the 
shell of Argonauta differ from that of Nautilus? 



303. Supplementary Studies for Library, Laboratory, and 
Field. 

1. Compare the clam, snail, and squid with regard to the 
following particulars, putting the results in a tabular form : 

(a) Degree of development of the head. 

(6) Shell, development and method of using, in each. 

(c) Mantle ; extent, form and modifications : mantle cavity. 

(d) Foot; parts, differentiation, and uses. 

(e) Respiration; how accomplished? 

(J) Sense organs ; position, character, and degree of develop- 
ment. 

(g) Locomotion ; how effected ? 
(h) Protection ; special devices. 

2. Can you find any indication among the mollusks of a 
relation between the degree of development of the sense organs 



MOLLUSCA 265 

and the activity shown by the animals ? Between the external 
protective structures and activity ? 

3. When did the various classes of mollusks make their 
appearance in the history of the earth ? (See geology.) What 
can you say of their importance in the formation of the sedi- 
mentary rock ? Evidences ? 

4. In what ways may the fresh- water forms have arisen from 
the original salt-water mollusks ? 

5. What members of the group of mollusks are economically 
important ? Indicate in what way and to what extent ? 

6. A report on all the mollusks to be found in your com- 
munity; their distribution, habits, etc. 

7. Formation of pearls, and pearl fisheries. 

8. The industries connected with the use of the shells of the 
clam. 

9. The life history of the fresh- water clam. 

10. The life history of the oyster. 



CHAPTER XVII 

PHYLUM ARTHROPODA 

304. This group is one especially favorable for study in the 
field, in the haunts of the animals themselves. For this reason, 
wherever it is at all possible, the members of the class should 
collect a portion of the material needed in the laboratory and 
submit a report on such items of physiology and ecology as may 
be* expedient in each case. Detailed suggestions will be found 
in the supplementary exercises. 

305. The Fresh -water Crayfish (Cambarus) or the Lobster. — 

This form should be studied when living specimens may be had. 
They may be kept for considerable time in a tub containing an 
inch of water. This should be changed every day or two. 
Feed on small pieces of meat or earthworms. 
I. Physiology. 

1. Locomotion: walking; how effected? swimming: how 
effected? Under what circumstances does the animal swim? 
Do all the walking legs act together in walking ? How many 
are at rest at once ? In what order do they act ? 

2. Movements of the parts of the body; segments and ap- 
pendages. Describe the manner and purpose of these motions 
as far as you can determine. In what different ways do the 
various groups of appendages seem to act? Watch them, one 
pair at a time. 

3 . Feeding : kind of food used and manner of securing it. 

4. Respiration: by means of air or water? How can you 
be sure? Does the animal do anything to renew the water, 
by producing currents? Place a minute amount of carmine 
or indigo solution at the side of the animal at the union of 
the abdomen and thorax; at the front of the thorax. What is 
the difference ? What does it signify ? 

5. Evidences of sensitiveness: Devise experiments of your 
own to prove whether the crayfish is stimulated by light; 
contacts; the presence of food in any other way than by sight; 

266 



ARTHROPOD A 267 

sound. Are all parts of the body equally sensitive to touch? 
To chemical stimuli? Make use of a 5 per cent, solution of 
acetic acid; strong salt solution;, strong beef extract. What 
inferences may be drawn from your experiments? Place a 
crayfish on his back. Describe his actions. What is the nature 
of the stimulus that arouses this reaction? Evidences? 

II. Symmetry. — (This group is especially favorable for this 
study.) 

Notice what is implied in bilateral or tri-axial symmetry. 

Antero-posterior axis: are the poles alike or different? 

Make a memorandum of all the chief differences. 

Dorso-ventral axis (as above). 

Right-left axis. Record the points of agreement. 
Contrast the axes in length. Can you think of any causes 

for the differences and likenesses discovered above? 

Any advantages arising therefrom ? 

III. General Form. — Distinguish two regions; — Cephalo- 
thorax and abdomen. 

Cephalo-thorax; carapace. 
Head; rostrum, eyes, mouth. 
Cervical groove. 
Thorax. 

Abdomen; how many segments do you find? What 
seems to determine a segment ? 

Applying these criteria can you find any indications of 
segmentation in the cephalo-thorax? (Make a tem- 
porary estimate of the number of segments in the 
animal.) 

Make two sketches showing a dorsal and a ventral view 
of the crayfish, preserving proportions. 

Examine one of the abdominal segments (the third or 
fourth from the front). How is it joined to those next 
it ? Follow the line of union. Note tergum, or dorsal 
piece; sternum, or ventral piece; pleura, the lateral pro- 
jections from the tergum. 

Make a sketch of an imaginary cross section showing the 
relation of these parts to each other, together with the 
attachment of the appendages. 



268 ZOOLOGY 

IV. Appendages. — Group them into regions and notice 
the general differences and the differences in the uses 
to which they are put. If time will allow, study the 
appendages in detail as follows; 

1. Begin with the third or fourth abdominal appendage (swimmer ets) making 
the drawings necessary to show the parts: 

Protopodite, or basal portion. 

Exopodite, or external branch. 

Endopodite or internal (median) branch. 

Compare all the abdominal segments with that studied. Do different indi- 
viduals agree in the appearance of the first and second abdominal segments? 
Compare the last segment (telson) with those studied. How many segments in 
the abdomen? Of what parts is the tail fin made up? 

2. Cephalo-thoracic Appendages. — Remove with scissors the over-arching 
portion of the carapace and expose the base of the appendages. Find the third 
maxilliped (the first appendage in front of the large claw). Remove by inserting a 
scalpel and bringing away all that belongs to it. 

Identify: 

Protopodite, of two segments (coxopodite, next the body, and basipodite). 

Endopodite and exopodite. How many pieces in each? 

Epipodite, lying in the gill-chamber. Are there any special outgrowths on 
it? 

Study and compare with this the large claw, and the other walking append- 
ages. Which part is wanting in these, exopodite or endopodite ? Reasons 
for your view? How do these five appendages differ from each other. 

Examine and compare the appendages in front of the third maxilliped in 
order: 

Second maxilliped. 
First maxilliped. 
Second maxilla. 
First maxilla. 
Mandible. 
Antenna. 
Antennule. 



Head parts. 



What are the evidences that the antennae and antennules are homologous 
with those already described? 

Revise your estimate of the number of segments. 

Compare the appendages again by groups, and notice the chief points of 
difference, and the ends served by these differences. Make a careful 
sketch of each type of appendage, labeling all parts. (The names of the 
segments of the larger appendages may be found in fuller texts, if desired.) 

By studying the living specimen, determine just the work done by each 
of the types of appendages. 

Note the position of the eyes. Examine with a low power. 

In the basal joint of each antenna is the opening of the "green gland." 

In the basal joint of the antennules are the otocysts (statocysts). 



ARTHROPOD A 269 

V. Gills, — Examine the gill-chamber, and the position of 
the gills therein. Which appendages bear gills? How many 
tufts to each appendage? How do they differ as to the place 
of their attachment ? How many in all ? Make a table showing 
these factors. 

VI. Internal Organs. — Remove with much care the carapace from the thorax 
and the terga from the abdominal segments, by the use of scissors and forceps. 
Sketch the organs in their natural position. What organs are visible? 

Examine in some detail the following sets of organs, 
(a) The circulatory organs. (Use an injected specimen.) 

Heart: just beneath the carapace, in a membranous chamber (pericardial 

sinus). 
Apertures, by which the blood enters the heart from the sinus; dorsal, 

ventral, lateral. How many do you find? 
Arteries; anterior, posterior. 

(There should be, if possible, a permanent dissection of the lobster in which 
the arterial circulation has been injected with a colored mass.) 

VII. Reproductive Organs. — These will be found immediately beneath the 
pericardial sac as whitish (male), or yellowish to brown (female) lobed structures. 

Depending on the sex there will be found 

Ovaries or testes. Form, position, and number of lobes? 
Oviducts or vasa deferentia. Course, length and outlets? 
Can you determine the sex of your specimen? Note especially the external 
differences between males and females. 

VIII. Digestive Organs. 

Liver, a pair of yellow, brown or reddish masses anterior to the reproductive 
organs. 

Stomach; sketch in position. Dissect later, if time allows, and note the 
anterior and posterior chambers, and the grinding apparatus. 

How is the mouth situated relatively to the stomach ? . 

Follow the intestine backward from the stomach to the 
Anus: position of? 

Make a sketch of the entire tract from a side view, showing in what part of the 
carapace each portion is. 

IX. Muscular System. — How is the abdomen flexed and how extended? How 
do the muscle fibres run ? To what attached ? Are they plain or striate ? How are 
the appendages worked? Split open the segments of the chela. 

X. Nervous System. — (If the time is short a demonstration may be made, 
preferably with a lobster.) 

Remove the intestine, and cut carefully through the muscles in the median 
line until the white ventral nerve-chain is uncovered. Follow it forward to the 
head, cutting away the covering plates in the thorax. 

How many swellings (ganglia) in the abdominal region? Relation to the 
segments? Where do nerves arise? 

Thoracic ganglia: number and relation to appendages? 

Sub-esophageal ganglion; circum-esophageal connective. 

Supra-esophageal ganglion (brain). 



270 ZOOLOGY 

Do any nerves arise from the brain? Where distributed? Draw from above. 

Make a diagram of the relation of the digestive tract and nervous system from 
the side view. 

XI. Excretory Organs. — The green glands occur at the base of the head, in front 
of the mouth. The outlets are at the base of the antennae. 

Make a diagrammatic view of an imaginary cross section of the thorax in the 
region of the heart, and one of the abdomen, showing the position of the internal 
organs. Also a diagram of a sagittal section showing relations of all the parts 
discovered. 

306. Sow -bug {Oniscus, a terrestrial form; or Asellus, a fresh- water Isopod).— 
General Form. — Use hand lens and identify: 

Head: size, form, number of segments. 
Eyes: number and position. 
Antennules and antennae. 
Mouth-parts: number and structure. 
Thorax: number of segments.. What variation therein? 
Abdomen. How many segments? Proofs? 
Appendages. 

Remove carefully, mount in water on a slide, and examine with low power, 

a thoracic appendage. Sketch. 
Examine similarly the other thoracic legs and the mouth parts, and make 

drawings of them arranged in the order of their occurrence. 
Examine similarly the abdominal appendages. What is their number? 

Sketch? 
Compare the appendages from the different regions, as to structure, form 

and probable function. Are there any gills? Where situated? 
What is the number of segments in the body, if there is a pair of appendages 
to each segment? 
Comparisons. — Compare the sow-bug with the crayfish as to the degree of 
union of head and thorax; the number of segments represented in each of the 
three regions; the degree of differentiation among the appendages; the mode of 
respiration; the presence of both exopodite and endopodite; as to food, and habits. 
Physiology and Ecology. — A study and report of the animal's habitat, food 
habits, methods of motion, sensitiveness to light and to other classes of stimuli, 
should be made. How does Oniscus behave when touched? Do you find any 
trace of eggs or young? What facts are to be noted concerning them? 

307. Cyclops. — These minute fresh-water Crustacea may be found in almost 
any pool where aquatic plants are found. They flourish well in aquaria. Select 
several of the larger specimens with egg masses, one on each side the abdomen. 
Examine in a watch glass with a little water to which a drop of chloroform has 
been added. Use low power of microscope. 

General Form. — (Study both dorsal and ventral surface.) 
Cephalo-thorax : 

Anterior portion covered with the carapace. How many segments 
represented? How can we know that this is not merely the head, or 
the whole cephalo-thorax? 
Posterior portion (four free thoracic segments). How is it known that 
these are not abdominal segments? 
Abdomen: form; number and character of the segments. 



ARTHROPOD A 27 1 

Appendages. — Antennas, oral, thoracic, abdominal. Number and general 
character of each. Where and how are the egg-cases attached? 

Sense Organs. 

Eye-spot (appearing as one, from which the name Cyclops). 
Do you find any organs which suggest a tactile function? 

Report on all available points of physiology: as food habits; methods of locomo- 
tion; reaction to light and other stimuli. 

308. Comparisons. — Collect all the minute fresh-water Crustacea possible and 
compare them with Cyclops. Learn to identify them by their manner of moving 
in the vessels of water. Daphnia is especially favorable for microscopic study on 
account of its semi-transparency. 

309. Spider (any common species large enough for study). 
General Form.— Study the relations of head, thorax, and 
abdomen. Are there any antennae ? Oral appendages ? Num- 
ber and character of the thoracic appendages ? Does the abdo- 
men show any signs of segmentation ? Has it any appendages ? 
Make sketches showing a ventral and a lateral view. 
Special Organs. 

Examine the head with a hand lens and locate the eyes 
Note more particularly the types of appendage found, 
and the degree of differentiation. Find the openings 
to the air-sacs on the ventral surface of the abdomen. 
Locate the spinning glands. Number ? 
Activities and Habits. — How do the legs act in walking? 
At what joints are they flexed at various parts of the step? 
Do all the legs on one side act in unison? Observe the spin- 
ning action. Does the spider ever produce the threads except 
when weaving a web? Describe. Determine if possible the 
kind of web formed by the species studied. Or find as many 
types of nest or web as possible and learn to recognize the 
spiders producing them. How does the spider travel on its 
web? Where do spiders place their webs? Place a living fly 
or other insect in a newly constructed web and record the 
actions of the spider. Can you devise means to prove whether 
the spider possesses the sense of smell ? 

310/ The Grasshopper. — Several species of the locusts may 
be found in almost every locality. They are especially abundant 
in the early autumn. For laboratory study select the largest 
species found in sufficient abundance. In connection with the 



272 ZOOLOGY 

securing of material the students should make observations on 
the following points : 

1. Habits. — Where and under what circumstances found? 
At what time of the year does this species occur in greatest 
abundance? Under what circumstances are they most active? 

2. Methods of Locomotion. — How many methods seem 
available? Degree of efficiency of each? Under what circum- 
stances is each used? What distance can be attained at one 
effort? Continue the study later in more limited quarters, as 
in the room and under a bell-glass. Compare the work of the 
various legs. Are the wings used at all in jumping ? 

3. Protective Features. — Coloring; to what extent do you 
find this of protective value ? Reasons for thinking so ? Does 
the animal show a distinct instinct for hiding? Compare all 
available species in these regards. 

4. Do they produce definite sounds? Under what circum- 
stances ? Do you find any hint as to the method of their pro- 
duction ? 

5. Do you detect any movements which suggest respiration? 
Rate? (Find spiracles in the thorax and abdomen.) 

6. Supply hungry animals with fresh leaves and study the 
feeding process. Dip the leaves in various solutions and notice 
whether it makes any difference to the grasshopper. 

If alcoholic material is used for the following morphological 
studies it should not be allowed to become dry. If dipped in 
a mixture of glycerine and 50 per cent, alcohol, specimens will 
not dry so rapidly. 

The sexes differ, particularly in the abdominal region. Pro- 
cure specimens thus differing by examining a number of individuals, 
and keep both kinds for comparison. Sketch dorsal, lateral and 
ventral views of each (especially in the regions of difference). 

External Features. — Study the following points : 

1. The regions of the body. 
Head; thorax; abdomen. 
What are the signs of segmentation in these three regions ? 

Where is it most clearly indicated? Where are the 

segments most similar ? 






ARTHROPOD A 273 

2. Abdomen. 

Number of segments (differs in male and female). 
Dorsal arid ventral plates. Are they equally developed in 

all segments. 
Appendages : which segments possess them ? 

Ovipositors (paired outgrowths found only in the female). 

Anal cerci (examine the male). Are they found in the 

female? To what segments do these appendages 

belong ? 

Spiracles (small openings at the side of the segments); 

number and distribution ? 
Tympanic membrane, at the sides of the first abdominal 
segment. 

3. Thorax: studying from the front, backward, find: 
Prothorax; mesothorax; metathorax. Note the form, 

size, and structure of each part. 
Appendages of each segment. 

Legs: number; relative size; parts (beginning at the 
body), coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, tarsus. Com- 
pare the legs. 

Wings (can these be regarded as homologous with the 
jointed appendages?): number; position, at rest 
and in motion; characteristics; position of veins. 
Compare the two pairs in all essential particulars. 
Are there any spiracles in the thorax ? Position ? 

4. Head (is there any "neck" ?). The head is covered with 

chitinous plates; identify: 

Epicranium, the dorsal plate. 

Clypeus, the anterior plate. 

Genae, the lateral plates. 

Labrum or upper lip, anterior to the clypeus. 
Examine the compound eyes, their form and relation to the 

plates. Slice off a portion of the surface and study the 

surface with a low-power objective. 
Ocelli or simple eyes. How many and in what position ? 
Mouth aperture; position. 
Appendages of the head : 

Antennae, near the eyes; number. 

18 



274 ZOOLOGY 

Mouth-parts. These are complicated and demand careful study. Remove 

the labrum and proceed from before, backward. 
Mandibles; a pair of horny tooth-bearing jaws. Draw in position. 
Maxilla; a pair of compound jointed organs made up of three portions, 

the lacinia (nearest the median line),, the galea, and the maxillary 

palpus (external). 
Labium or lower lip; this also bears a palpus. The labium may be 

studied and removed before the study of the maxillae. 
Tongue. 
How many segments seem to be represented in the head? Evidences. 
Internal structure. 

Select large female specimens preferably. Clip the wings close to the 

body, and pin the specimen to a board, dorsal surface upward. 
With a pair of fine, sharp pointed scissors make a longitudinal incision 

into the integument of the abdomen near each side. Gradually and 

carefully remove the skin between the cuts from behind forward. 

Look for the heart, — a long, thin-walled, mid-dorsal vessel, which if 

not removed with the skin may be seen just beneath it. Unroof both 

the abdomen and thorax. Note the exposed muscles of the thorax, 

also the whitish fat bodies next the body wall. 
i. Tracheae. — If the specimen is freshly killed the tracheae will be filled with 
air and will show as white, glistening tubes. Seek their connection with 
the spiracles, and note their ramification and unions in the body. Isolate 
some of the smaller branches and study under the microscope. Prove 
that they are tubes. How kept open? 

2. Reproductive Organs. — (These are much more difficult in the male.) 
Ovaries: In how many masses? Notice the subdivisions of the ovaries. 

These contain the eggs and communicate by means of an oviduct 
with the outside. In what segment? Examine an ovum with the 
microscope. Mash, and notice the yolk. 

3. How do the muscles of the thoracic region differ from those in the 
abdominal? Are the fibres plain or striate? ' 

4. Digestive Tube. 

Dissect forward into the head, and press the other organs aside so that 
the course of the tract may be revealed. It consists of the following 
parts, which should be identified : 
Mouth. 

Esophagus; size and course. 

Crop (an enlargement of the esophagus); shape, position. 
Stomach; character and extent. (At the anterior end is a ring of 
tubular appendages which are glandular in function, — the gastric 
cseca; at the posterior end it is limited by a circle of fine tubes — 
Malpighian tubules — which are excretory.) 
Intestine; length, course and size. 
Anal opening; position. 

Make drawing of digestive tract from side view, showing in outline the 
body regions and the relation of the portions of the tract to these. 

5. Nervous System. — (Remove the alimentary tube and examine the floor 

of the abdominal cavity.) 



ARTHROPOD A 275 

Ventral nerve cord. Is it single or double ? 
Ganglia; number, and relation to the segments. 
Nerves; origin and distribution. 
Trace forward into the thorax and head. 
Ganglia; number and position. How connected? Is there any 

portion dorsal to the digestive tract (brain) ? 
Nerves. 
Compare the nervous system of the grasshopper part by part with that 

of the crayfish. 
Make diagrammatic representations of imaginary cross sections through 
thorax and abdomen showing the relation of the different structures; 
likewise of a sagittal section. 
The cricket or cockroach may be substituted for or compared with the grass- 
hopper. 

311. Supplementary Laboratory and Field Work. — It is 

perhaps inexpedient for students in an elementary course to 
make dissections of other representatives of the Arthropoda, 
but the common air-breathing forms are so numerous, so varied, 
and have such interesting habits and histories, that they may 
profitably be used as a basis for individual field and laboratory 
and library work and to serve in the comparison of homologous 
organs in related groups. The following outlines are suggestive 
rather than exhaustive. 

I. Make a table in which can be displayed the points of con- 
trast between the crayfish, the grasshopper, the "June bug" 
(or other beetle), the squash-bug or the cicada ("locust"), 
the butterfly, the wasp, the fly, the spider, and the centipede, in 
the following particulars : 

1. The regions of the body; head, thorax, and abdomen; 
their degree of development and separateness. 

2 . The number of segments in the body, and the clearness 
with which they are manifest. 

3. The degree of diversity shown by the segments in the 
various parts of the body. 

4. The points of structure which the various segments 
possess in common. 

II. Make a similar table, for the same animals, of the 
appendages : 

1. Head appendages: antennae; mouth parts, number and 
kinds. 



276 ZOOLOGY 

2. Thoracic appendages: 

Legs: number, position, kinds, joints, special adaptations 

to special work. 
Wings: number, size, position, structure, principal veins. 

Compare the first and second pairs as to size, structure 

and function. 

3. Abdominal appendages: number, structure, function. 

III. Make a table comparing these and other available forms 
as to their eyes, simple and compound. 

IV. Find, if possible, another form embodying the same 
general features found in each of the above-mentioned animals. 

V. Compare these (or other forms which may be selected) 
from the point of view of their habits. Introduce all discovered 
correlation between structure and function and between form 
and manner of living. 

1. Haunts and place of living. If peculiarly local, can you 
find any reasons ? 

2 . Locomotion : methods, and the efficiency of. 

3. Feeding: material used, and the method of obtaining it. 

4. Respiration: organs and their location; any special points 
as to their use. 

5. Special senses: physiological evidences; morphological 
evidences. 

6. The laying of eggs and provision for the young. 

(The library may be used profitably to supplement field 
work in this section.) 

VI. Study by observation the homes, temporary or perma- 
nent, their mode of construction and uses, in the following: 
Spiders (as many species as possible), the paper- wasp, the 
mud-wasp, the honey-bee, the bumble-bee, ants, flies, etc. 

VII. Development or life history. Studies may be made in 
many cases by periodic observations in natural conditions. 
When this is not possible, animals may often be reared in con- 
finement by supplying the appropriate conditions. This is a 
very attractive line of investigation and one in which real 
contributions to knowledge may be made. The following are 
some of the matters to be kept in mind. 



ARTHROPOD A 277 

i. Is there a metamorphosis or is development direct ? (See 
text, §330-) 

2. Eggs : where deposited ? In what numbers ? Relation to 
future food supply ? 

3. Larval condition ("grub," "maggot," "caterpillar"). 
Form, segmentation, general external characters, special 
organs; habits, food, coloration, enemies. 

4. Pupa (a resting and transforming stage); how pro- 
tected? What is the origin and character of the pro- 
tecting structure? What changes are undergone at this 
stage ? 

5. Adult. How do the larva and pupa compare with it in 
segments, appendages, etc. 

The following forms may be studied and compared as to life 
history: 

Squash-bug; all stages are to be found on squash, gourd, 
cucumber and similar vines. 

Potato beetle ; equally abundant on the Irish potato plant 
in some years. 

Bees and wasps; to be found in their nests. 

"Blue-bottle" fly. This form may be studied in confine- 
ment. (Expose raw meat for the eggs to be laid. 
Place on a chip in a dish of moist earth or sand. Invert 
a tumbler or bell- jar over it and watch the growth and 
changes, as decomposition proceeds.) 

Mosquito. The larvae may be found in stagnant pools, 
and watched in confinement. 

Cabbage butterfly. This form may be studied in. the 
garden, or in the laboratory by placing the cabbage 
leaves with the larvae under a bell- jar and keeping the 
conditions favorable. 

Some large caterpillar should be studied with some de- 
gree of care in order to ascertain the general arrange- 
ment of organs. 

Spider. If a mass of spiders' eggs can be found, the stu- 
dent by watching may be able to determine whether 
the development is direct or indirect. 



278 ZOOLOGY 

Silk-worm. The various stages may be studied in con- 
finement. 
VIII. Group the Arthropoda known to you, in three classes: 
(1) those hurtful to man's interests, (2) those beneficial thereto, 
and (3) those having no apparent relation to man. State the 
grounds of your classification of each form. In what stage of 
its metamorphosis is each species hurtful or helpful. Extend 
your own knowledge by inquiry, by observation, and by reading. 

Descriptive Text 

312. The group of Arthropoda (jointed-legs) embraces more 
than one-half the species in the whole animal kingdom, and is 
correspondingly rich in individuals. This is the same assaying 
that they are remarkably variable and adaptable to various 
conditions of life. The segmented, bilaterally symmetrical body 
and the arrangement of the nervous system are the most 
important points of similarity with the Annulata. The general 
resemblance is more striking in some of the lower forms (Peri- 
patus), and in the larval stages of those which undergo a meta- 
morphosis. 

313. General Characters. 

1. Elongated, bilaterally symmetrical body. 

2. Segmented; somites usually heteronomous, and typically 
grouped into three regions: (1) head, (2) thorax, (3) abdomen. 

3. An outer skeleton, of a secreted chitinous substance. 

4. Each somite typically with a pair of jointed appendages 
(whence the name arthropod). 

5. Central nervous system similar to that of Annulata: (1) 
brain, (2) a nerve ring around the esophagus connecting the 
brain with (3) a ventral, ladder-like chain of ganglia. 

6. Heart, dorsal to the digestive tract. 

7. Ccelom greatly reduced and not forming a part of the 
rather spacious secondary body cavity (haemoccele) . 

314. General Survey. — The symmetry of the Arthropods 
is very pronounced, except in the case of fixed, parasitic, or 
otherwise degenerate forms (as barnacles, Sacculina, etc.). 



ARTHROPOD A 279 

The group presents great diversities expressive of a high de- 
gree of adaptation to almost every conceivable mode of life. 
They m'ay be parasitic — internal or external, symbiotic, social, 
or independent; they may be aquatic, terrestrial, burrowing or 
aerial; they use all sorts of food; they bore, crawl, swim, jump, 
fly, or may be fixed. In geographical distribution they are 
practically cosmopolitan. The group is one of the most suc- 
cessful in the animal series. None of the living species, however, 
attains a very great size. The king-crab and the lobster 
are among the largest. Many are microscopic. 

315. The Segments. — There is a great deal of diversity 
among the segments of the body as to size, shape, the form 
and use of their appendages, as well as in their contained 
structures. In the more primitive forms (Peripatus and the 
centipedes) and in the larval condition, the somites are well 
marked externally, but in the majority of forms there is more 
or less fusion of contiguous somites in certain body regions. 
A variable number of segments at the anterior end, which 
bear the mouth parts and sense organs, form the head. Be- 
hind these a group of three (insects), or more (crayfish), may 
fuse to form the thorax. The head and thorax are often fused 
into one piece — the cephalothorax. The abdominal segments 
are usually unfused. 

316. The Appendages also differ much in form in the 
various representatives and on different segments of the same 
individual. This diversity of structure is closely connected 
with the variety of work to be done, and is an excellent illus- 
tration of the differentiation which accompanies "division of 
labor." They are unquestionably serially homologous organs 
as is shown by their similarity of origin and by the funda- 
mental likeness of structure, — clearly to be seen in the primi- 
tive forms. They may be said to consist typically of a basal 
portion with one or more segments, supporting two jointed 
branches, — a median and an external. Appendages may be 
entirely wanting (as in the abdominal segments of almost all 
adult insects) ; and yet these may appear in a rudimentary form 
in the early stages of the embryo, only to disappear later. 



280 ZOOLOGY 

Where the metamerism is obscured by fusion, the number of 
appendages may be the only indication we have of the number 
of segments; but as we have seen, the appendages themselves 
are sometime^ aborted in regions where they are no longer 
needed. So it is not always possible to determine how many 
segments are really represented in an animal. 

General groups of appendages are as follows: (i) preoral, 
mostly sensory, — as antennae; (2) oral, biting and sucking 
structures, — mandible and maxillae; (3) thoracic, chiefly walk- 
ing appendages; (4) abdominal, variously modified (as swim- 
merets, gills, etc.), or wanting. The wings are not to be re- 
garded as homologous with the jointed appendages. They 
originate as expansions of the integument of the body, sup- 
ported by numerous tubular " veins" containing blood spaces, 
tracheae, and nerves. Wings, when present, comprise one (flies) 
or two pairs (bees). Often the anterior pair is hardened and 
serves merely as a protection for the second pair. Either pair, 
more often the second, may be aborted. 

317. Coelom. — The development of the arthropods shows that the spaces in 
the body are not truly ccelomic as a rule, but are, so to speak, much enlarged 
blood spaces containing the corpuscle-bearing fluid. The pericardial sinus is 
one of these. Such a body cavity is known as a hamoccele. 

318. Integumentary Structures. — The arthropod integument 
has a hypodermal layer of cells which secretes the chitinous 
cuticle constituting the external skeleton. The chitin may be 
mixed with salts of lime. Beneath the hypodermis, in certain 
groups, is a layer of connective tissue, — the dermis, containing 
nerves and blood vessels — within which are the longitudinal 
muscles of the body wall. In Insecta, Arachnida, and Myria- 
poda the body wall is composed di a cuticula, a hypodermis and 
a basement membrane. The chitinous covering serves for pro- 
tection and support of the soft parts, and for the attachment of 
the muscles of locomotion. At intervals this exoskeleton is 
shed off (moulted), in which process the old cuticle is separated 
from the hypodermis, rupturing along some line of weakness, 
and allowing the escape of the animal. This moulting extends 
not only to the minutest of the external organs, but to the stomo- 
daeum and proctodaeum and certain other internal structures 



ARTHROPOD A 28 1 

as well. A new cuticle begins to be secreted at once, but this 
"soft-shelled" condition is one of great danger and helplessness 
to the animal. The process besides is exhausting, and to these 
facts we may attribute, in part at least, the small size of most 
arthropods. Chitin is not deposited in the cuticula at the joints, 
thus securing the flexibility necessary in locomotion. 

319. Muscles and Locomotion. — The muscles are well 
developed, and many of the arthropods are very powerful in 
proportion to their size. The circular muscles characteristic 
of the body wall of Annelida are lacking in the arthropods. 
The chief body muscles are the longitudinal which cause the 
flexion and extension of the segments. There are in addition 
the muscles by which the appendages are moved. These fibres 
are of the cross-striate type. Less massive groups of fibres are 
found in the walls of portions of the digestive tract. 

The paired, segmented appendages are primarily organs of 
locomotion. They are variously used for crawling, walking, 
jumping, and swimming. Many have wings, and the quality 
of the nervous and muscular control of these can be realized from 
the fact that the honey bee can make some 326-435 wing strokes 
per second and the house fly 330 per second. Some forms, as the 
crayfish, have the power of using segmented portions of the 
body in a powerful backward swimming stroke. Some types 
have the power of skating round on the surface of water. 
Locomotion in the phylum is remarkably varied and efficient. 

320. Digestion and the Digestive Organs. — The alimentary 
tube is typically rather complex. It commences with a mouth 
which is usually supplied with three or- more pairs of external 
appendages assisting in the capture, transfer, and preparation 
of food. This is followed by an esophagus either with or 
without a crop; a stomach frequently consisting of several 
regions: viz. (a) a proventriculus or gizzard in which food is 
further broken to pieces physically, and (b) a ventriculus or 
stomach proper in which chemical digestion occurs ; an intestine 
which is not always clearly marked off from the stomach ; and a 
posterior opening, — the anus. The development of the gut shows 
both stomodaeum and proctodeum (see §93). The former is 
often very extensive, — embracing even the proventriculus, in 



282 ZOOLOGY 

which chitinous grinding plates may occur (crayfish, cockroach). 
The "salivary" glands when present open into the esophagus 
or mouth cavity. Into the mesenteron important digestive 
glands may open, as the pyloric caeca (many insects), or liver 
(crayfish and spiders). The Malpighian tubules (see dissec- 
tion of the grasshopper) associated with the hind gut are 
believed to be excretory rather than digestive in function. 
The digestive system as a whole is strikingly correlated with 
the character of food used, which is exceedingly diversified 
in this phylum. This results in the fact that the details of 
structure are scarcely the same in any two species. Indeed the 
digestive process and structures are very different in the larval 
and adult stages of the same individual, — as in the caterpillar 
that feeds on green leaves and the adult that lives on nectar or 
fruit juices. This can be appreciated only by extended ob- 
servation and comparison. The student is urged to com- 
pare such figures of these organs as he may be able to find in 
the reference texts at his command. 

321. Respiration. — In some instances the Arthropoda ob- 
tain their, oxygen directly, from the air, in others from the 
water. In the latter the exchange is effected through the body 
wall, or by gills. These are essentially thin outgrowths of 
the body wall, with the cuticula much reduced, into which the 
blood passes (e.g., the majority of Crustacea). In the former 
it takes place wholly by means of tubular air-passages or trackece 
(insects), or these may be supplemented by thinned folds of the 
body wall- — book-lungs (spiders). By these devices the oxygen 
of the air or water and the blood are brought into intimate rela- 
tions. In the water-breathing forms the gills are either the 
modified appendages (Limulus, Asellus), or specialized out- 
growths from them or from the general body wall (crayfish; 
Fig. 126, g). The gills vary widely in number and position, 
but are found especially in connection with the thoracic and 
abdominal appendages. The air-breathing forms possess a sys- 
tem of interbranching tubes which may open to the exterior by 
a pair of spiracles (stigmata) or pores in each somite. These 
tubes unite, branch and penetrate to every portion of the body. 
The air is carried to the blood rather than the blood to the air. 



ARTHROPODA 



283 



The tubes are lined by a thin layer of cuticle, and are kept open 
by a spiral thread of the same material reinforcing the wall. 
The book-lungs when present lie within a sac which opens to 
the exterior by a spiracle or pore, and consist of a series of pleat - 
ings, within which the blood circulates and between which the 
air circulates. 

The larvae, especially of air breathers, are often developed 
in conditions very different from those chosen by the adults. 

Fig. 126. 




Fig. 126. Diagrammatic cross section of Crayfish in the thoracic region, to show relation 
of circulation and respiration, a, appendage; c, carapace; c.f., flap of carapace overhanging the 
gills; d, digestive tube; g, gill; h, heart; /, liver; w, body muscles; m', muscles of the appendages; 
n.c, nerve cord; p.s., pericardial sinus; r, reproductive glands; st, sternal artery; v.a., ventral artery; 
v.s., ventral blood sinus in which the nerve cord lies. Modified, from Lang. 

Questions on the figure. — What is the relation of the gills to the body wall? 
Follow the course of the circulation by the arrows. It leaves the heart by definite 
arteries and comes back by less definite blood sinuses. What is the function of 
the valves? What gain is there in the position of the ventral nerve cord in the 
blood sinus? 



This fact may make necessary very important changes in the 
respiratory organs in the metamorphosis. Some forms are 
even water breathers in the larval stage and air breathers in 
the adult (dragon-flies). 



284 ZOOLOGY 

322. Circulation. — The heart or pulsating organ when 
present is dorsal and may be much elongated, with an enlarge- 
ment in each somite. It lies in a membrane-bounded cavity 
called the pericardial sinus (Fig. 126, ps.), which is a part of 
the haemoccele or secondary body cavity (§317). The blood 
comes to the pericardial cavity and enters the heart by means 
of slit-like openings, with valves. Definite arterial vessels leave 
the heart and pass to capillary regions and thereupon open 
into irregular spaces in the tissues without definite walls (lacuna) . 
The haemoccele is in reality an enlarged lacuna. In insects 
there is an anterior artery only; in spiders and Crustacea, pos- 
terior and lateral arteries also occur. The return of the blood 
takes place through the irregular haemoccele spaces (lacunae). 
These become more definite in form as they near the pericardial 
chamber, or as they approach the gills in aquatic forms. One 
of the more important blood spaces is the ventral, in which the 
nerve cord lies (Fig. 126, v.s.). The blood corpuscles are color- 
less and amoeboid. The plasma may be variously colored by 
pigments which seem to assist in the work of respiration, as 
haemoglobin does in vertebrates. 

323. Excretion. — The importance of excretion increases 
with the activity of animals. Except in Peripatus it is not 
conclusive that any of the adult excretory organs in this phylum 
are homologous with the segmental organs of Annelida. In 
insects and spiders there are excretory tubules communicating 
with the hind gut. In the crayfish and related forms a pair 
of excretory glands — "green glands" — open, at the base of the 
antennae. It is of importance to remember that the exoskeleton 
of the Arthropoda is an excretion, which is incidentally protective 
and supportive. 

324. The Nervous System consists essentially of the same 
parts as have been described for the annelids. It is, however, 
on the whole, more fully developed. This development accords 
with the differentiation which we have seen in the somites and 
body regions. The brain and sub-esophageal ganglia, for 
example, have become more pronounced with the differentia- 
tion of the head; accompanying the fusion of the body seg- 



AUTKROPODA 285 

ments there is a massing and fusion of the corresponding ganglia; 
and in general, everything considered, those ganglia are best de- 
veloped which lie in the best-developed somites. The concen- 
tration of the ganglia of the ventral cord may continue until 
they form practically one mass. Nerves arise from the brain, 
from the connective about the gullet, and from the ventral 
ganglia, and pass to sensory organs and to the muscles of the 
body and the appendages. 

325. Organs of Special Sense. — As the thickened cuticular 
covering of the arthropods develops, it is apparent that much 
of the sensitiveness of the surface to external conditions must 
be lost unless special . structures are produced to compensate 
for this by the reestablishment of connection between the 
internal organs and the outside world. Such structures we 
find in the chitinous hairs of various shapes which project be- 
yond the surface and in pits or canals which pierce the skeleton. 
These all have nervous connections and have been variously 
interpreted as tactile, taste, auditory, and olfactory organs. 
They are especially abundant in the more movable portions, 
particularly those about the mouth, though they may be found 
over the whole surface of the body. Figures illustrating the 
great variety of forms of such hairs should be sought in the 
reference texts. 

It has been shown that the crayfish and many insects are 
sensitive to chemical stimuli. These sensations have to do with 
selection of food and with testing the character of the water 
or air. They are analogous to our sensations of taste and smell. 
The organs may be scattered over the body or more commonly 
localized on the appendages about or in front of the mouth. 

At least three classes of organs have been described as audi- 
tory among the arthropods: (a) vibratile hairs, as in the case 
of the male mosquito (Fig. 42) ; (b) otocysts, as in many aquatic 
forms; (c) a tympanum or membrane in connection with which 
are special nervous cells for the reception of the vibrations (as 
in the grasshopper and other insects) . The otocysts of the Crus- 
tacea may be open or entirely closed. In the former case the 
animal itself may place the otoliths in the otocyst in the form 



286 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 127. 



of grains of sand. Investigations, however, show that the 
function of this organ is not hearing, so much as that of inform- 
ing the animal of its relation to the pull exerted by gravity, 
thus enabling it to keep its equilibrium. 

There are two classes of eyes in the group: (a) compound 
eyes, made up of numerous similar elements, as 
in the insects and Crustacea, and (b) simple 
eyes — ocelli — found alone in spiders and in many 
larvae, or in connection with the compound eyes, 
as in many insects. 

The compound eye is made up of elements 
(ommatidia) radially arranged about the end of 
the optic nerve. Each ommatidium is probably 
capable of forming an image of a limited portion of 
the field, and consists of (1) a cuticular cornea, 
appearing externally as a "facet" (2) a cellular 
lens or cone which directs the rays of light, (3) 
sensory retinal cells which receive the light, and 



Fig. 127. An ommatidium or eye-element' from the eye of the Lobster 
(after G. H. Parker), c, cornea (cuticle); c.h., corneal hypodermis, which 
secretes the cuticle; co., cone cells; cr., crystalline cone; w, nuclei; »./., nerve 
fibres; r.d., distal or outer retinula cells; r.p., proximal or inner retinula cells; 
hr,. rhabdome. 

Questions on the figure. — Identify the following regions: 

(1) protecting part including the cornea and hypodermal cells; 

(2) focusing portion, — the crystalline cone and the cone cells; 

(3) the pigmental elements of the retina (distal and proximal 
retinular cells), the former of which prevent rays of -light en- 
tering one ommatidium from passing obliquely into adjacent 
ones; the proximal cells may be more immediately connected 
with (4) the nervous elements which unite the eye with the 
nerve centres. Define an ommatidium. Is it known whether 
the image is inverted in such an eye as this? 



(4) pigment cells which separate the retinal elements of adjacent 
ommatidia, and play an important, though not fully understood, 
r61e in vision (see Figs. 44 and 127). 

326. Library Exercise. — If time allows some student might make a more 
detailed report of the structure of the compound eye in Arthropods and its method 
of image formation. Other reports may be made, in which drawings of the various 
sense-organs in arthropods are presented to the class, especially the various types 
of auditory organs. 



ARTHROPOD A 287 

327. Reproduction and the Reproductive Organs. — Repro- 
duction in arthropods is sexual. With few exceptions the 
sexes are permanently separate. There is often much differ- 
ence in the size, color, structure, and activity of the two sexes. 
The males are often smaller, more active, and more highly 
colored than the females (see "sexual dimorphism," §149). 
Sometimes the members of a single sex are dimorphic, as in 
the workers and queens among the bees. This is correlated 
with individual division of labor in the social insects. 

The sexual organs are usually paired, and in the female 
consist of the ovaries (which may be subdivided into ovarioles), 
oviducts, receptacula seminis, in which spermatozoa are stored 
at copulation, accessory glands, sometimes external copulating 
and egg-depositing organs. The male has testes; vasa deferentia, 
which may have special enlargements for the storing - of sper- 
matozoa and the formation of sperm masses ; and external copu- 
latory organs. See figures of the sexual organs of the honey-bee 
or other representative insect in the reference texts. Compare 
them with those of the snail. 

328. Parthenogenesis. — In several insect types the eggs 
have the power of developing without being fertilized by the 
male element. Its occurrence is determined primarily by the 
absence of males, but even when males are present the female 
may often deposit unfertilized eggs. She is influenced to do 
this possibly by the special conditions of temperature, nutrition, 
and the like, to which she is subject. 

The individuals resulting from parthenogenesis may differ 
very materially from those produced by the normal sexual 
method. In the case of the bee, the males or drones come from 
unfertilized eggs, and the workers and queens from fertilized. 
The cause of the differences between workers and queens is 
apparently one of nutrition purely. Biologically, partheno- 
genesis is to be considered as a modified or abbreviated form 
of sexual reproduction, in which the stimulus to cleavage comes 
from some source other than the male cell. 

329. Development.— After fertilization the nucleus divides 
as described for other forms, but usually, on account of the 



288 



ZOOLOGY 



abundant yolk which the eggs contain, complete segmentation 
of the cell is not effected. After a series of divisions some of 
the free nuclei assume a superficial position where they become 
surrounded by protoplasm, and form the blastoderm (Fig. 13, 
D t 3). This is described as partial and peripheral segmenta- 
tion. On the side of the egg where the embryo is to lie, a 
thickening called the ventral plate is formed. From this area 
of the blastoderm there arises, by specialization, by insinking, 
and by multiplication of the cells, the three-layered condition. 
The presence of yolk so obscures and complicates the process 
that the student must be referred to more comprehensive books 
for even an outline of it. 

330. The Later Development may be either direct or in- 
direct. That is to say, the young when hatched may be the 

Pig. 128. 




Fig. 128. The Zoea of Cancer irroratus. From Verrill. X 15. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare with the larva of lobster (Fig. 131) and 
with the Megalops (Fig. 129), and note likenesses and differences. 



adult in miniature, possessing its form and habits, or may 
have a very different form and assume the adult condition by 
one or more metamorphoses. The differences between the larval 
and adult conditions may be slight or very great. To effect 



ARTHROPOD A 289 

the change from larva to adult a series of moultings of the 
chitinous covering is usually necessary; these may be accom- 
panied, or preceded by periods of rest, in which important in- 
ternal changes take place. The metamorphosis is more common 
among insects (Figs. 142 and 148), although a similar thing 
happens in many of the Crustacea (as crabs, Figs. 128-130). 
In spiders the development is direct. The eggs of many insects 
hatch as worm-like larvae (grubs, maggots, caterpillars). These 
are usually active, voracious, fat-storing animals, which after 

Pig. 129. 




Pig. 129. Megalops of Cancer irroratus. From Verrill. X 15. 

Questions on the figure.— Compare with Figs. 128 and 131, and make note of 
the chief points of contrast. Compare also with adult crab (Fig. 130). What 
differences are to be noted between the development in the lobster and in crabs? 
Is the larval or adult crab more like the lobster? 



a period pass into a resting condition, often surrounding them- 
selves with protective coverings (cocoons) . During this quiescent 
stage they are described as pupa. In the pupal stage the accu- 
mulated fat is used by the organism in connection with the 
formation of the new organs of the adult or imago. Many of 
the internal larval organs may be torn down completely by the 
aid of amoeboid cells and be made to contribute material to 
19 



290 ZOOLOGY 

rebuild the new. The extent of these changes can only be 
realized by a comparison of the structure of a caterpillar and 
of the butterfly into which it develops. The larvae may be 
suited to aquatic life, the adult to aerial; the larva may be 
carnivorous or herbivorous, the adult may live on the nectar 
of flowers. These changes of habit are closely correlated with 
the changes of structure noted in the metamorphosis. The 
reproductive organs are not mature until the imago stage is 
reached. Frequently the imago only survives long enough to 
insure the laying of fertilized eggs. In general the length of 

Pig. 130. 




Fig. 130. Violet Land-crab. After Shufeldt. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare the crab with the lobster (Fig. 132) as to 
the development of the body-regions, segmentation, appendages, etc. Compare 
all the figures of crabs available and note in what respects they vary externally. 

331. Library References. — Make a report on the metamorphosis in Crustacea. 
What is meant by an incomplete metamorphosis ? Illustrations. 

life in insects is short, although it is claimed that queen bees 
may live five years and queen ants thirteen. The Crustacea 
are much longer lived. 

332. Ecology. — When we remember the great number of 
species and of individuals in the group of arthropods we are 
forced to realize something of their importance in their rela- 
tion to other forms of life on the earth. Their numbers and 
their enormous power of reproduction make' it inevitable that 
they become pests and threaten the existence of the plants and 
animals on which they prey, and likewise that they become 



ARTHROPOD A 29 1 

important elements in the food supply of animals which prey- 
on them. It is only by their great reproductive power that 
they can hold their own against their many enemies, — the birds 
and other insectivorous animals, and the accidents of climate, 
etc. The Crustacea furnish a large part of the food of fishes. 

From a human point of view they may be the greatest pests 
or the greatest helpers. In the voracious larval stage they 
devour waste material as scavengers, strip vegetation, spread 
disease, produce silk, and furnish food to the higher animals. 
In the adult stage they may destroy crops; cross-fertilize 
flowers in their search for nectar, which they may store for 
themselves and their young — to be intercepted in the case of 
the bee by man; may spread diseases; may devour*stored grain, 
or by their mere presence become a nuisance to man and the 
domestic animals. In both mature and immature stages they 
may be parasites on man and other animals. Few of the arthro- 
pods are directly useful as food to man, though lobsters, cray- 
fish, shrimps, etc., are important items in our food supply. 

Many special devices of structure and of instinct have arisen 
making their continued existence in the presence of their enemies 
possible. Indeed there is no group of animals in which so 
many and such interesting adaptations to the special conditions 
of life are found as among the arthropods. All are provided 
with some degree of external protective covering. Many are 
so colored and shaped as to be inconspicuous in their natural 
environment. Some are endowed with offensive odor and 
taste, some with stinging organs. Others which are them- 
selves perfectly harmless are so much like forms which are 
repulsive or dangerous, as to be protected thereby from their 
enemies (see Chapter VIII). 

Many insects as ants, bees, and wasps are strikingly social 
in their habits, and show a high degree of differentiation among 
themselves. Among the bees a special class of females — the 
queens — lay the fertilized eggs, the other females — the workers 
— being sexually immature. In the ants, still further division 
of labor occurs among the workers. Some individuals act as 
soldiers for the protection of the ordinary workers. Some 
species of ants make slaves of other species of ants which do the 



292 ZOOLOGY 

work of the colony, or of other animals (aphids) for the purpose 
of feeding on their secretions. A high order of social instincts 
and skill is shown by certain members of this group, — the 
highest, apparently, shown by any of the invertebrate animals. 

333. Behavior. — In the Arthropods we are dealing with 
organisms more complex in their nervous organization and with 
a greater variety of sense organs than we have yet found, — 
with the possible exception of some of the cephalopods. Their 
reactions to stimuli and general behavior in the presence of the 
conditions of life, and probably their mental life, are correspond- 
ingly rich and varied. Their activities are reflex and instinc- 
tive rather than intelligent, although it has been definitely 
shown by experiment that the crayfish and some of the insects 
learn to accomplish things by the trial and error method. That 
is, they modify behavior through experience. 

The nervous system, scattered as it is largely through the 
segments of the body, is suited more to reflex activities than to 
intelligent activities. The latter become more pronounced as 
the brain comes to contain a larger portion of the nervous 
matter, with more complex connections. 

Crayfish prefer darkness and are positively thigmotropic 
(that is, like to touch solid objects). Both these reactions are 
valuable in bringing them into hiding. 

Some species of insects show striking powers of recognizing 
one another, and of communicating their mental states. This is 
done apparently through tactile and chemical sense organs in 
the antennae and other appendages and by the making and 
hearing of sounds. The whirring and buzzing of wings in flies 
and bees and mosquitoes, the scraping of legs and wings by which 
chirping is done, the sustained stridulations of the cicada are 
examples of these. The lazy hum of the bee is very different 
from the angry buzz, and is quickly recognized by other mem- 
bers of the hive. In others as the mosquito the song of the 
female is probably a sex call. Probably many of them, such 
as the tappings of some beetles, are without meaning except as 
evidences of nervous activity. Others are merely incidental to 
necessary activities, as flying. 



ARTHROPOD A 293 

The complex instincts of many insects as yet defy our anal- 
ysis. We do not know to what extent these instinctive actions 
are produced by external and by internal conditions, but we do 
know that external stimuli furnish the occasion; for example 
decaying meat initiates the egg laying reflex in gravid flies. The 
most remarkable instincts are connected with the place and 
time of egg laying, the building of homes, the capturing of prey, 
and the complex social life of the higher forms. The student 
can well afford to seek illustrations of these. 

In some of the Crustacea there is an interesting power of 
breaking off an injured leg at a definite point. This is not because 
of particular weakness at this point, but is the result of definite 
muscular contractions. It is a reflex response to certain stimuli. 
The regeneration of the leg occurs from the stump. Many 
'crustaceans have the power of regenerating any of the append- 
ages which may be lost. This is true also of the eyes, which are 
on stalks. Under certain circumstances antennas may develop 
in place of the eyes. 

334. Library Exercises. — Reports on the social life of bees and ants; on the 
animals captured and utilized by ants; on power of flight in ants; on queens among 
ants and bees; on myrmecophilous (ant-loving) insects; on intelligence among 
insects and spiders. 

335. Classification. 

Class I. Crustacea (with shell; Crayfish, Crabs, Barnacles, etc.). — Arthropoda, 
chiefly inhabiting the water and breathing by means of gills or through the body 
wall. The head typically consists of five segments more or less fused and bearing 
two pairs of antennae or feelers, one pair of mandibles, and two pairs of maxillae. 
The thorax or second region of the body may be separate from or fused with the 
head (cephalothorax) . It possesses a variable number of segments, which usually 
bear the locomotor appendages. The remainder of the body (abdominal segments) 
is normally of distinct segments in which the appendages are much reduced. The 
chitinous skeleton is ordinarily well developed. 

Subclass I. Entomostraca. — Crustacea, small and simple in organization, with 
a variable number of segments of which the appendages are simple and less diverse 
than in the next subclass. Many of them are parasitic and degenerate. A meta- 
morphosis occurs. The group embraces many small free forms, found both in 
fresh and salt water, some fish parasites, and the sedentary barnacles. Here 
belong Cyclops and Daphnia, which occur abundantly in fresh water pools and feed 
on the algae common there. They constitute an important portion of the food of 
the fresh-water fishes. They multiply very rapidly and keep closely up to the 
limit of the food supply. The eggs of many of them can resist drying to a re- 
markable degree. This is of manifest importance when we remember that they 
frequent pools in which drouth is not uncommon. 



294 ZOOLOGY 

The barnacles (Cirripedia) are Crustacea which in adult life become attached 
to the rocks near low water-mark or to floating objects of various kinds. The 
bottoms of ships become foul with them. The group is especially interesting in 
that it points to the giving up of free motion, which its ancestors possessed, for a 
mode of life wholly different, and demanding marked changes of structure. They 
possess, besides the organs for attaching themselves, bivalve shells similar to those 
of Mollusca, for protection; they are often hermaphroditic, which is a very un- 
common thing in arthopods. The advantages gained by their special habits are 
evident. The waters near the shore contain a great deal of organic debris, and any 
organism which can attach itself here and yet be protected from destruction by 
the waves is fortunate. Those attached to floating objects are brought, without 
their effort, into constantly changing localities. 

Subclass II. Malacostraca. — Crustacea of larger size and more highly organized. 
Segments, except in one order, twenty, and well differentiated. Nineteen of 
these segments bear appendages. The first stage in the metamorphosis (the 

Fig. 131. 




Fig. 131. Larva of Lobster (Homarus americanus) removed from egg shell. From Herrick. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare with the adult (Fig. 132) and note similari- 
ties and differences? Examine Dr. Herrick's figures (Bull. U. S. Fish Commission 
for 1909) and notice the gradual change to the adult condition by successive 
moultings. What structures can you identify? 

nauplius) is usually passed before hatching. The group embraces (1) the Deca- 
poda, or the lobsters, crabs, crayfishes and shrimps, which agree in the possession 
of ten walking feet, eyes on movable stalks and a carapace covering the thirteen 
fused segments of. the cephalothorax; and (2) the Tetradecapoda, comprising 
numerous smaller types such as beach-fleas, sow-bugs or wood-lice, in which head 
and thorax are not fused, the eyes are not movable, and the walking appendages 
are fourteen. 

The crayfish and lobsters have well-developed abdominal segments, whereas 
in the crabs the abdomen is reduced and bent under the thorax, which becomes 
broad and massive (Figs. 129, 130). The larger Crustacea are omnivorous, almost 
all organic matter, dead or living, being acceptable. Lobsters are known to attack 
and devour fishes. The lobster (Homarus, Figs. 131 and 132) is economically the 
most important member of the group, and stands next the oyster as the most 
important invertebrate food species. It is estimated that, in times past, as many 



ARTHROPOD A 
Fig. 132. 



295 




Fig. 132. The American Lobster (Homarus americanus). From Herrick. 

Questions on the figure. — What body-regions are distinguishable in the 
lobster? Compare by actual measurement the size of the crushing claw with that 
of the body. How many segments in the abdominal region? Compare with 
Fig. 130. 

as one hundred million lobsters have been taken in a single year in Canadian waters 
alone. There is no doubt that the lobster is in immediate danger of extinction as 
a food animal, as is shown by the fact of greater difficulty in obtaining them and 
by the decrease in the average size of the animals put on the market. This de- 
crease occurs in the face of the fact that the mature female produces from ten 
tnousand to one hundred thousand eggs. These are carried under the abdomen 
of the mother until hatched, which requires a period of ten or eleven months. 
After hatching the young undergo a series of moultings during which time they 
arejthe prey of many kinds of enemies. Such is the mortality that, on an average, 
not so many as two of all the young of a female reach maturity. This is another 



296 ZOOLOGY 

way of saying that a species is losing ground. Two general methods have been 
tried to make good the decline in the supply: first, legislation forbidding the taking 
of animals under the size which indicates sexual maturity (eight to twelve inches), 
and forbidding the capture of females carrying the developing embryos ; and, sec- 

Fig. 133. 




Fig. 133. Palczmonetes vulgaris. From Verrill. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare the appendages of Palsemonetes with those 
of the lobster, the crab and Gammarus. vWhat seem to be the functions of the 
various appendages, so far as position and form may indicate? 

Pig. 134. 




Fig. 134. Gammarus ornatus. From Verrill. 

Questions on the figure. — How does this form compare with the lobster and 
the crabs in differentiation of the segments, in fusion of the segments and in the 
differentiation of the appendages? 

ond, attempts on the part of the national government to hatch artificially and care 
for the moulting young under such conditions that they will be protected from 
their natural enemies. The problem is not yet solved, and in the meantime 
another source of food is likely to be destroyed through overfishing. 

The crayfish is prized for food in European countries, but is little used in 
America as yet. Shrimps, prawns, the "soft-shelled" or blue crab are all of 
considerable importance in this regard. The smaller Crustacea are a very im- 
portant element in the food supply of the fishes, both in the fresh waters and in the 
sea. 

Class II, Onychophora. — Peripatus is the best known genus of this class. It 
is interesting chiefly because it is, in some degree, intermediate between the 



ARTHROPODA 



2Q7 



Annelida and the higher arthropods. They are remarkable for a wide distribu- 
tion out of proportion to their numbers, and are found in moist places, under 
wood, stones, and in rotting bark. They agree with the chaetopod annelids 
(see §276) in the possession of segmental organs (nephridia), a dermo-muscular 
sac, and poorly developed appendages. The segments are also homonomous 
(see §264) as in the worms. The relationship to arthropods is indicated by the 
possession of tracheae, by the substitution of haemoccele (the enlarged lacunae in 

Fig. 135. 




Fig. 135- Caprella geometrica 



Questions on the figure. — In comparison with other Crustacea what are the 
aberrant or peculiar features of this form? See also figures in reference texts 
(e.g., Parker and Haswell's Zoology, Vol. 1, p. 546). 

which circulation occurs) for the true ccelom, and by the differentiation of some of 
the anterior segmental appendages as mouth parts. The Onychophora resemble 
the larval condition of those insects which undergo a metamorphosis much more 
than the adult stages. This suggests that they are more closely related to the 
ancestral types from which the insects have sprung than to the insects themselves 
(Fig. 136). 

Class III. Myriapoda (many feet; Centipedes, etc.). — Trachea te arthropods 
with a worm-like body. Segments numerous, and much alike, one (or, in Dip- 

Fig. 136. 




Peripatus capensis. From Nicholson after Moseley. 



Questions on the figure. — Externally in what respects is this form like the An- 
nelids ? In what respects different from them ? Of what special zoological interest 
is this genus ? What are its habits ? In what respects is it like and in what unlike 
the centipede (Fig. 137)? 



lopoda, two) pair of appendages to each segment. The head is distinct and bears 
antennae and mouth parts. The eyes are numerous and simple (ocelli). In 
fundamental structure and development the myriapods resemble insects. There 
are two principal orders. One embraces the centipedes (Fig. 137) which are car- 
nivorous, have biting jaws, have one pair of appendages to each segment, and are 
poisonous. The second includes the millipedes which are vegetable feeders and 
possess mandibles suited to chewing vegetable matter. They are wholly harmless. 
They have two pairs of legs to each of the numerous segments except the first four. 



298 ZOOLOGY 

Both centipedes and millipedes inhabit the land, and frequent dark places. Many 
are nocturnal in habit. 

Class IV. Hexapoda (six feet; Insects). — Tracheate arthropods with three dis- 
tinct body regions, — head, thorax, and abdomen. The head is a fusion of at least 
six segments of which four are represented by appendages, — a pair of antennae 
and three pairs of mouth parts. The thorax has three segments (pro-, meso- and 
meta- thorax) , each of which, in adult insects, bears a pair of legs; the meso-thorax 
and the meta-thorax may each bear a pair of wings. The abdomen has a variable 
(often obscure) number of segments. Its appendages are usually entirely wanting 
or much reduced. A metamorphosis frequently occurs. The larval condition 
often suggests the annelids and the myriapods in the similarity of its segments, 
and in the numerous appendages. 

The student is referred to more comprehensive works for a complete exposition 
of the numerous orders of this enormous group Hexapoda. Only the more im- 
portant are described below. 

Fig. 137. 




Fig. 137. Centipede (Scolopendra heros). Photo by Folsom. Four-fifths natural size. 

Questions on the figure. — What differentiation of segments is apparent? Are 
there any fusions into body-regions? What is the law of the occurrence of ap- 
pendages? What diversity is there among them? 

Order Aptera (without wings). — This order embraces a number of minute, 
wingless insects which do not undergo metamorphosis. The body is covered 
with scales or hairs. The spring-tails and snow-fleas are examples. These make 
their leaps by suddenly straightening out a tail-like structure which is bent under 
the body when at rest. They are not the only wingless insects and hence the 
name is somewhat misleading. See Fig. 138. This group is often regarded as 
representing two distinct orders, Thysanura (the bristle-tails) and Collembola (the 
spring-tails) . 

Order Orthoptera (straight wings). — In this order the metamorphosis is incom- 
plete. There are usually two pairs of wings, the anterior often somewhat thick- 
ened, serving as a cover for the posterior. Mouth parts are adapted for biting 
and chewing. Here belong the cockroaches, grasshoppers, crickets, locusts, katy- 
dids, walking-stick insects. The order is of considerable economic importance. 
Most of its members are vegetable feeders and when they are gregarious are often 
very destructive. The Rocky Mountain locust, so named because it breeds on 
the plateau at the eastern base of these mountains, in 1873 and again in 1878, 
migrated eastward over Nebraska and Kansas in search of food, literally stripping 



ARTHROPODA 



299 



fields of vegetation. Since the settlement of the regions where they breed, with 
the ploughing up of the eggs and the destruction of the young, there is reason to 
hope that these migrations are at an end. Accounts of similar migrations of 
locusts are recorded in the history of the old world. These migrations and their 
effects illustrate how climatic conditions in one locality may change the balance 
of life in another. The second chapter of the prophet Joel gives a vivid account 
of a visitation of locusts. See Fig. 139. 

Fig. 138. 




Fig. 138. Campodea, — a Thysanuran. Magnified 30 times. By J. W. Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — In what respects does, this form seem intermediate 
between the Myriapods and the higher insects? How does this compare with the 
larvae of insects which undergo a metamorphosis? Can you distinguish head, 
thorax, and abdomen? 



Other Orders. — Some of the smaller orders are as follows: the Ephemerida, or 
May flies whose adults may live for only a few hours, although the larvae may 
require from one to three years to develop; the Odonata, or carnivorous dragon- 
flies, and damsel-flies; the Plecoptera, or stone-flies; the Isoptera, or termites (white 
ants) which are social, polymorphic forms; the Corrodentia, book-lice and bark- 
lice; the Mallophaga, parasitic bird-lice which eat hair and feathers; the Thysan- 



3°° 



ZOOLOGY 



optera, or thrips; the Dermaptera or earwigs; the Neuroptera, the Dobson flies, ant- - 
lions, and lace- winged-flies ; the Trichoptera or caddice flies, each of which in the lar- 
val stage constructs around itself a protecting case made of sand or other particles 
of matter. 

Fig. 139. 




Fig. 139. Katydid {Pterophylla camellifolia) , natural size. Photo by Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — How many pairs of appendages are visible in the 
figure? How many pairs are present? To what order of insects does the Katydid 
belong? What are its feeding habits ? What can you find of its development? 



Fig. 140. 




Fig. 140. Periodical Cicada. Natural size. Photo by Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — To which order of insects does Cicada belong? 
Which of its habits are most familiar to you? What are its nearest relatives 
among the insects?. 



Order Hemiptera {half -wing) . — Hexapoda with an incomplete metamorphosis, 
and having two pairs of wings, or none. Mouth parts are modified for piercing 

and sucking. Here are included the true bugs, as the squash bug, chinch bug, 
bedbug, the water boatman, etc. ; the plant-lice ; the scale insects ; and the cicadas 
(sometimes called "locusts"). These should not be confused with the beetles, 



ARTHROPOD A 



301 



which are often called " bugs." See Fig. 140. The Hemiptera furnish some really 
serious pests, as the scale insects, aphids, chinch bugs, etc. 

Order Diptera (two wings). — These Hexapoda undergo a complete metamor- 
phosis, having the anterior pair of wings developed except in three or four groups, 
which are wingless. Hind wings reduced to mere rudiments. The mouth parts 
are well adapted for piercing and sucking. The order is very large in species and 
includes such common forms as the flies, mosquitoes, gnats. Many members of 
this group are of great importance to man. The maggots of the true flies are 
usually scavengers, developing in decaying organic matter and assisting in its 
destruction; the adults, on the other hand, besides being unpleasant companions 

Fig. 141. 




Fig. 141. 



Larvae of the Bot-fly (Gastrophilus equi) in the stomach of the horse, 
size. From Luggar, after Heller. 



One-half natural 



Questions on the figure. — What do you know of the habits of the bot-fly? 
Where are the eggs deposited? How do the larvae come to have the position 
figured above? How do they pass from this to the adult condition? See also 
Fig. 142. How does it retain its position in the stomach of its host? 



and demanding a share of our comforts, spread disease. Other species suck the 
blood of man and domestic animals, producing disease and death. The bot-flies 
are most destructive in their larval stage. The eggs, deposited on the exterior, are 
taken into the digestive tract and there develop, often migrating into other organs 
and producing definite diseases. Mosquito larvae devour the decaying organic 
matter in stagnant pools. The adult female is a blood-sucker and is, through the 
parasitic protozoa which may infest it, the chief instrument of the spread of 
malaria and yellow fever among men. They are all very prolific and develop 
rapidly, considering the fact that they undergo a metamorphosis. The house fly, 



302 



ZOOLOGY 



for example, only requires a few hours for hatching into the maggot stage. If food 
and temperature are favorable, this maggot may grow to full size in a week, when 
it passes into the resting or pupa stage, from which another week or more is required 
for the young fly to emerge. 

The eggs of mosquitoes are deposited in water, where they hatch into active 
larvae called " wigglers." These breathe the air by means of a tube on the next to 
the last abdominal segment. Their common position with the end of the tail at 
the surface of the water is thus explained. The mosquito larva does not cease 
to be active, but by a series of moults comes to the pupa stage from which by an 

Fig. 142. 




Fig. 142. Stages in the development of the Bot-fly (Gastrophilus equi). From Parker and 
Haswell, after Brehm. a, adult insect ; b, egg attached to a hair; c.d. and e, stages in the development 
of the larva. (See also Fig. 141.) 

early moulting the adult mosquito emerges, balancing itself on the floating pupal 
skin until its wings are hardened sufficiently for use. See Fig. 143. 

The Hessian-fly deposits its eggs on the leaves o F growing wheat; certain of its 
near relatives produce galls which interfere with the growth of the plant, often 
very seriously. In the case of the Hessian-fly great damage to the wheat crop 
often results. See Fig. 144. 

The fleas are to be looked upon as degenerate. They are often placed in a 
separate order (Siphonaptera) . The adults are external parasites without wings. 
They are flattened laterally and thus pass readily between the hairs of the host. 
The larvae are not parasitic, but live on decaying organic matter. 



ARTHROPODA 



303 



Order Lepidoptera (scale-wings). — These are Hexapoda which pass through a 
complete metamorphosis, in the adult possess sucking mouth parts, and have two 
pairs of large membranous wings covered with scales. The moths and butterflies 
are the representatives of the order. The larvae are known as caterpillars, which, 
with a few exceptions, are vegetable feeders. The adult butterfly differs from the 




Fig. 143. Two stages in the metamorphosis of the Mosquito. From Packard. A, larva; B, 
pupa; C, ventral view of the oar-like appendages of the last segment of the pupa. 



Pig. 144. 




Fig. 



The Hessian Fly (Phytophaga destructor). From Standard Natural History, a, 
adult; 6, larva; c, pupa; d, larvae in position on stalk of wheat. 



the 



Questions on the figures. — Give names to all the structures apparent on the 
adult. In which stage does the insect do its damage? What is its economic 
importance? What is the origin of its common name? 



moths (typically) in the fact that the former fly by day, hold the wings erect when 
at rest and have antennae- with a club on the end. The butterflies and moths 
share with the birds the preeminence in beauty among animals. They present 
many points of interest in their metamorphosis, in their habits, their coloration, 
their distribution, and their economic effects. 



3°4 



ZOOLOGY 



The caterpillars are usually voracious and may strip their food plant of its 
leaves and buds. The majority of the larvae have become highly specialized in 
their food habits, becoming restricted in some instances to one species or to a few 
related species (as illustrated by the tomato worm, which feeds on tomato, potato, 

Pig. 145. 



\ 


jfc. 1 




fffc 


lit ii 


■ li 


H ■ - ' 




• 


iMm i [ %|f 




ff * if' 


I - 


y 


A ! 


B C 



Pig. 145. The Cabbage Worm (Pi eris rapes). Natural size. Photo by Folsom. A and B, larvae; 

C, pupa. 

Questions on the figure. — What is a larva? What is a pupa? Which is the 
earlier stage? What is the color of this caterpillar in nature? See the next 
figure for the adult. 

Fig. 146. 




FlG. 146. The adult Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris rapa). Natural size. Photo by Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — Why is the larva of this animal called the cabbage 
worm? Why is the adult called the cabbage butterfly? What are its feeding 
habits? 



and tobacco leaves; or the cabbage worm which eats the leaves of certain of the 
cruciferous plants). The distribution of such species is thus clearly determined 
by that of their host plants. Among the most injurious to vegetation are the 
"tent-caterpillars" which occur gregariously and spin a web-like nest; the army- 
worm so-called because it sometimes appears and moves from its hatching grounds 



ARTHROPODA 



305 



in great numbers; the cotton-boll worm; the canker-worms and fruit-borers. The 
silk-worm is a very useful member of the order. The clothes-moth lays its eggs 
in woolens or furs. 

The adults are usually short-lived and some do not eat at all. The majority 
of them suck nectar from flowers and juices from ripe fruits and other objects by 
means of special tubular mouth parts which are modified paired appendages. 
They carry pollen from flower to flower, effecting cross-fertilization, in some 
instances. The color of the larvae and the adults is very varied and often has close 
relation to the environment and habits of the animals. We have already noticed 
in the chapter on adaptations (Chap. VII) how the coloration may be protective. 
This is the more needed since the group has many enemies, especially in the larval 
stage. The power of reproduction is great. Several broods per year may be 
produced. There are more than 50,000 known species of Lepidoptera, about 8,500 
of which occur in North America, north of Mexico. The species are more num- 
erous and striking in the tropical regions of South America. 

Fig. 147. 





Fig. 147. The Army Worm (Cirphis unipuncta). After Riley. A, caterpillar; B, adult moth. 

Questions on the figures. — What are the principal facts concerning the habits 
and economic importance of the army- worm? Why is it so called?- 



Order Coleoptera {shield-wings). — In this group there is a complete meta- 
morphosis. The mouth parts are suited to biting and chewing. The front wings 
{elytra) are hardened and serve as covers for the true membranous wings when the 
latter are not in use. These are the beetles, — falsely called "bugs." Although a 
well-defined order the beetles manifest a wide range of variation, as will be seen 
from the fact that there have been described over 18,000 species for this continent 
north of Mexico. There are said to be more than 150,000 known species of beetles. 

Many of the larvae are commonly known as grubs. The feeding habits are 
almost as diversified as the form. Many are scavengers and lay their eggs in 
carrion and other decaying matter; others bore into wood and bark, as the long- 
horned beetles; some frequent grain, nuts, fruits; others are leaf-eaters; a few 
devour other insects. The Colorado potato-beetle, the weevils, the museum pest, 
the locust-borer or the hickory-borer will serve to illustrate some of the more hurt- 
ful representatives of this immense order. 

Some especially interesting forms are the fire-flies, the sacrabaeids which include 
the sacred dung-beetle of Egypt, and the ladybird-beetle. The latter is useful to 
man owing to the fact that it preys on certain hurtful insects. In California the 
cottony-cushion scale, which in some way had been imported from Australia, 



306 



ZOOLOGY 



promised at one time to destroy totally the orange industry. The Australian 
ladybug, which keeps it within bounds in its native home, was imported, and the 
increase of the ladybugs was such that the cushion-scales were all but destroyed. 
This species of ladybug feeds exclusively on the cottony-cushion scale, and there- 
fore the destruction of the latter led in turn to the rapid decline of the ladybugs, 
due to the loss of their food supply. Indeed it was necessary to keep colonies of 
the scale insects protected in order to furnish food and to prevent the entire 
destruction of the imported beetle by starvation. In Australia where both are at 

Fig. 148. 




Pig. 148. Swallow-tail Butterfly {Papilio machaon), — larva, pupa, and adult. From Nicholson. 

Questions on the figure. — Which is the larva and which the pupa? Which 
of these is the earlier stage ? What are the chief characteristics of the three stages 
in the metamorphosis of butterflies, — the larva, the pupa and the imago? 



home the natural conditions and the adjustment of the two species are such that 
this scale-insect does not become a pest. The discovery of the biological relations 
of these species, and the relief of the orange industry furnish a sample of the ex- 
cellent work being done by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in connection with 
the economic aspects of biology. 

Order Hymenoptera {membrane-wings). — Hexapoda with four membranous 
wings; mouth appendages adapted for sucking or for biting; metamorphosis com- 
plete. This is the most highly developed division of Insecta, and embraces such 



ARTHROPOD A 



307 



forms as bees, wasps, and ants. The most important habits of the group, which 
are those growing out of their social life, have been referred to in the chapter on 
adaptations (Chapter VIII). The chief economic value of the order is in the 
honey of the honey-bee, the fertilization by bees of certain plants, as clover, and 
the reduction of more hurtful species of insects by certain parasitic members of 
the order, as the ichneumon-flies and chalcid-flies. Some of the larvae are leaf- 
eating, as the rose-slug, and others produce galls on the oak and other plants in 
depositing their eggs. These are harmful to human interests. 

Fig. 149. 




Fig. 149. Hornet's nest, sectioned. Photograph from life by Shufeldt. 



Class V. Arachnida (spiders, scorpions, etc.). — Arachnida are arthropods in 
which the head and thorax are typically fused and represent about seven segments 
with six pairs of appendages. There are no antennas. The abdomen is often 
segmented but usually without paired appendages. Respiratory organs are con- 
fined to the abdomen, and may be of three types: book-gills, associated with 
appendages (king-crab) ; trachea similar to those of insects; and book-lungs (spiders). 
Development is usually direct. 

Order I. Xiphosura (the king crab). — This order contains only one genus, 
Limulus, a marine form with book-gills, and a cuticular test like that of the Cms- 



3 o8 



ZOOLOGY 



tacea, with which it was formerly classified. Numerous related forms flourished 
earlier in the world's history but are now extinct (Trilobites). 

Order II. Scorpionida (scorpions). — Arachnids with a much elongated and 
segmented abdominal region closely connected with the thorax. They are air- 
breathers, with four pairs of book-lungs in the abdomen. The posterior abdominal 
segments form a tail the last segment of which bears a sting. See Fig. 150. 

Fig. 150. 




Fig. 150. Scorpion (Buthus). Photo by Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare the scorpion with figures of Crustacea, 
insects and spiders, noting the chief differences and likenesses. Of what use is 
the long, segmented abdomen in the scorpion ? 



Order III. Araneida (spiders). — The Araneida are air-breathing arachnids, 
with book-lungs alone or in connection with tracheae. Poison glands are common 
in connection with the first pair of appendages (chelicerae) . The abdomen is un- 
segmented and without appendages, unless the spinnerets represent reduced 
appendages. On these latter, open the ducts of the numerous glands secreting 
the fluid which hardens on exposure to the atmosphere and makes the silk of the 
web. 

Spiders may be classified on the basis of the type of web which they make. 
The "orb-weavers" construct webs of great regularity and beauty; others, as the 



ARTHROPOD A 



309 



Fig. 151. 




Fig. 151. Spiders (Epeira tnarmorea). After McCook. Male on left; female on right. Natural 

size. 

Questions on the figure. — What differences do you note with respect to the 
sexes? What habits of the spiders are correlated with this difference in size in the 
sexes? 



Fig. 152. 




Fig. 152. Web of Epeira strix, an Orb- weaving Spider. After McCook. 

Questions on the figure. — By reference to other texts or by observation 
determine if there is any regular order in which the parts of the web are produced. 



To what is this form of web an adaptation? 
webs are constructed for similar purposes? 



Evidences? What other forms of 



3IO ZOOLOGY 

cob-web spider, make a complex and irregular mesh-work of fibres running in all 
directions; others spin a web similar to the last with the exception that at one point 
it is continued into a tube into which the spider retreats for hiding. The webs of 
these spiders are for the purpose of catching flies and other insects on which the 
animal feeds. The trap-door spiders make a tunnel in the ground ' which they 
line with their secretion; a door is woven which is so covered with materials like 
those about the nest that its presence is effectually hidden. A considerable number 
of spiders do not spin webs proper, but use their secretion merely in forming cocoons 
for their eggs, or in binding together objects to make a home. This wonderful 
secretion is used by the spider in many other ways than in the capture of prey and 
the making of a nest. By means of it some of the spiders make a near approach to 
flying. A spider may bridge the space from one object to another either by fasten- 
ing one end of the strand and hanging at the other, or by sitting still, he may allow 
the free end to float out until it becomes. attached. In some cases at least it is 
known that, by spinning thus loose silk in abundance, the weight of the spider 
may be readily carried by the action of the wind upon his silken sails. 

The chief economic importance of spiders lies in their habit of preying on various 
insects, of which they destroy considerable numbers. 

The Arachnida embraces a number of other orders including less important 
or less easily observed animals, as the mites, true ticks, harvest-men or "daddy- 
long-legs," and many parasitic or otherwise degenerate forms. 



336. Suggestive Studies, for Field and Library. 

1. Dimorphism and polymorphism in insects. 

2. Protective adaptations in insects. 

3. What senses seem most used among the insects? 

4. Report on observed signs of intelligence among arthro- 
pods. 

5. Is there any evidence of power of communication among 
the social insects, as the ants ? 

6. Courtship among the spiders. 

7. Spiders' webs: form, position, efficiency, mode of con- 
struction. 

8. There are some insects which have wings during a por- 
tion of their life but lose them later. Investigate the condi- 
tions and find an explanation. 

9. Report an observed instance of insects pollinating flowers 
(i.e., transferring pollen from one to another). How is it 
effected? Why does the insect do it? Is the pollination of 
flowers by insects deemed a common and important phenome- 
non by botanists ? 

10. Can you find any recorded instances of what may be 



ARTHROPOD A 3II 

called symbiosis (see §160) between insects and other organ- 
isms? 

11. Have you any experimental evidence as to how growth 
can take place in forms with a firm external skeleton such as 
that of the crayfish ? 

12. Do you have any reason for thinking that a metamor- 
phosis is advantageous to any of the Arthropoda ? Is it in any 
respect disadvantageous ? 

13. How is moulting effected? 

14. Habits of the "hermit crabs." 

15. The lobster and its habits. 

16. Silkworm culture, value and methods of. 

17. Insects introduced from foreign countries. Results? 

18. The history of the efforts to find enemies to some of the 
more important noxious insects. 

19. Relation of insects to the culture of figs. 

20. The structure and habits of the king crab (Limulus). 
Why is it not to be classed with the true crabs? 



CHAPTER XVIII 
PHYLUM CHORD ATA 

337. This phylum includes, beside the typical Vertebrata 
to be described in later chapters (fishes, amphibians, reptiles, 
birds and mammals), several groups of much more simple 
organization. These latter forms may be included under the 
general head Protovertebrata, not because they all show close 
relationship among themselves, but because of their primitive 
character, considered as Chordata. They are of very great 
interest to the biologist on account of the hints they may 
offer concerning the ancestors of the vertebrates. For detailed 
description of the manner of life and the structure of these 
primitive chordates the student must be referred to advanced 
text-books of zoology. 

338. General Characters of the Chordata (Protovertebrata 
and Vertebrata). — The Protovertebrata are allied with the 
typical vertebrates and separated from the invertebrates by 
the possession, either in the immature or adult condition, of the 
following features : 

1. A mid-dorsal, longitudinal rod of cells (notochord) de- 
rived from the entoderm, but often surrounded by mesodermal 
structures (see Fig. 157). This lies ventral to and supports 

2. The central nervous system, a mid-dorsal cellular tube 
with thickened walls derived from the ectoderm. 

3. Gill-slits or perforations connect the cavity of the pharynx 
with the outside directly or through an atrial chamber. 

4. The heart is typically ventral to the digestive tract. 

339. In the Group of Protovertebrata may be placed: 

1. Balanoglossus, a soft-bodied, worm-like form whose claim 
to a place among the Chordata rests upon the fact that an out- 
growth of the gut extends into the proboscis, where it forms a 
solid rod which in its origin suggests the notochord; a portion of 

312 



CHORD ATA 3 1 3 

the nervous system is dorsal ; and gill-slits occur. On the other 
hand there is a connective around the esophagus and a ventral 
nervous thickened band as in Annelida, and it shows little or 
no signs of segmentation (see Fig. 153). 

2. Tunicates (sea-squirts, ascidians, etc.) comprising a 
variety of forms which may be said, on the whole, to be de- 
generate in the adult condition. It is in the larval or tadpole 
state particularly that their relation to the Chordata is sug- 
gested. In the larva they possess a notochord especially in the 

Fig. 153. 




Fig. 153. Balanoglossus (Male). After Bateson. a, anus; m, mouth; p, proboscis; po., pores, 
the openings of the gill-slits; ts., testes. 

Questions on the figure. — Make reference to other texts and figures and de- 
termine what features of Balanoglossus tend to ally it with the chordates. What 
are the habits of the animal? Where do the earlier zoologists class Balanoglossus? 

tail region, a dorsal nervous system,' and gill-slits. The adult 
forms are usually attached, many of the larval organs becoming 
much changed or even wholly lost in consequence of the 
changed mode of life. The adults have been variously classified 
as worms, mollusks, etc. Many of the tunicates multiply by 
budding and form colonies from the fact that the buds remain 
associated. 

3. Branchiostoma (Amphioxus; lancelet) possesses the char- 
acters above mentioned as belonging to all the Chordata, except 
that there is no true heart. In addition it has a fish-like body, 
and the muscles are arranged in segments which appear enter 



314 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 154. 



>bo 



nally. It lacks paired fins, but has a median 
dorsal fin which continues over the tail and 
forward a part way on the ventral side. In 
front of this is a thick fold (metapleure) on 
either side the body, at the junction of the 
side with the belly of the animal. The 
metapleure is thought by some zoologists 
to be the forerunner of the vertebrate ap- 
pendages. Br anchio stoma is without a defi- 
nite brain ; that is to say, the anterior end of 
the nervous tube is not highly specialized. 
It has no skull, eyes, nor ears, such as charac- 
terize the head of true vertebrates. Bran- 
chiostoma is a small semi-transparent animal 
about two inches long (Fig. 154). It bur- 
rows in the sand with only the fringed mouth 
exposed. It may vary this by swimming 
about for short periods. 

4. Cyclostomata (Lampreys). — These are 
eel-like animals formerly classed with the 
fishes, and are doubtless more closely related 
to them than to the forms before mentioned, 
but because of their primitive qualities they 
may be placed for the purposes of this course 

Fig. 154. Diagram of the anatomy of Branchiostoma, drawn as a 
semi-transparent object (after Perrier " TraitS de Zoologie"). a., 
anus; a.p., atrial pore; c.f., caudal fin; dr., cirri, on the edge of the 
vestibule leading to the mouth; d.f., dorsal fin; r., fin rays; g., gill 
or branchial structures consisting of alternate slits, through which 
the water passes, and supporting plates, in the walls of which are the 
blood vessels; in., intestine, from which as a diverticulum springs 
I., the liver; m., the mouth surrounded by a fringed velum; my., 
myotomes or muscle segments; n.c, notochord; o., ovaries; s.c, 
spinal cord; v.f., ventral fin. 

Questions on the figure. — What elements of struc- 
ture appear in the figure suggesting the chordate charac- 
ter of Branchiostoma? What is the relation of the spinal 
cord, notochord and digestive tract ? How much of the 
length of Branchiostoma possesses gills? What is the 
position, extent and function of the atrium? (Refer to 
more extended texts.) What structures show evidences 
of segmentation? What fins has Branchiostoma? Com- 
pare with fins of fishes. 



CHORD ATA 315 

among the Protovertebrata. They have a round sucking mouth 
destitute of jaws; they lack paired appendages and the external 
skeleton. There is only one nostril, which may or may not 
communicate with the pharynx. The cyclostomes possess a 
true brain, a cartilaginous internal skeleton, and gills (usually 6 
or 7 pairs) in pouches. They differ from the true fishes in the 
fact that the notochord is not constricted, i.e., the mesodermal 
sheath does not, by its growth, compress it by the develop- 
ment of distinct vertebrae around it (see §344). See Fig. 64. 

340. Library Exercises. — By reference to all the available 
literature make a report on the general structure, habits, and 
important adaptations of each of the above types? How do 
the larvae and adults of the tunicates compare? How is the 
degeneration accounted for. To what extent is colonial life 
represented among these types ? Are any parasitic ? Examine 
particularly for figures of these groups in the standard refer- 
ence zoologies. 



CHAPTER XIX 

CHORDATA (cont.): SUB-PHYLUM VERTEBRATA (Fishes, Amphibians, 
Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals) 

Laboratory Exercises 

For general illustration of the vertebrates the author is 
convinced that no form is superior to the frog for use in ele- 
mentary classes, although a fish may be used. In a course 
arranged for one year it is not desirable to make elaborate dis- 
sections of more than one or two vertebrate types. Directions 
are given both for the fish and the frog for the convenience of 
those who prefer the former. Supplementary studies for the 
other classes of vertebrates will be found in connection with the 
chapters devoted thereto. 

341. Fish. — Any common fish will serve — perch, sucker, trout, smelt. Speci- 
mens eight to ten inches" in length are of most suitable size. If convenient one- 
half the class might take one species and the remainder another and compare 
results. 

A. The Living Animal. — Place in an aquarium. Watch the locomotion and 
notice all the accompanying motions of the various parts. What is the rate of 
the tail stroke? How far, on an average, does one stroke of the tail carry the 
fish? Compare these points when the fish is in very rapid motion. What part 
do the anterior fins play in locomotion? Bind one of them flat against the body 
with a string. Bind both. Results? Experiment similarly with the other fins 
and see if your first conclusions are strengthened. Do you find any variations in 
the above respects by comparing several species? 

How does the temperature of the fish compare with that of the water? Allow 
one specimen to remain for an hour or more in water at a temperature of 70 F. ; 
another in cooler water (50 F.): compare results. 

Can the fish detect in the water the presence of substances which have a decided 
taste to us? Use colorless solutions, — acid, sugar, quinine. Can you get the 
animal to show any choice as to food? 

Note the motions of mouth and eyes. Can the fish see any point with both 
eyes at once? 

B. External Anatomy. — (Make careful outline sketches showing all points of 
structure.) 

The Topography of the Body. — Note the symmetry; indicate the degree of 
differentiation of anterior and posterior ends, and of dorsal and ventral surfaces, 
as shown by the shape, special organs, etc. What structures appear paired? 
To what degree are head, trunk, and tail clearly distinguishable? Locate and 

316 



CHORD ATA 317 

identify all the external openings. How would you describe the general shape of 
the body? What are the external evidences of segmentation? 

The Appendages. — How many paired ? Unpaired ? Locate : the dorsal, caudal, 
anal, the pectoral, and the pelvic or ventral. Does the skin of the body extend 
over the fins? What seems to be the nature of the fin rays ? Number? Are the 
upper and lower lobes of the caudal fin equal or unequal? 

The Covering. — Does the specimen possess scales? Is there any regularity in 
their arrangement? Is this constant among several specimens? Is it the same 
in different species? Are any parts of the body free of scales? Are the scales 
covered with skin? What is the shape and nature of the free margin of the scales? 
Examine with a hand lens or low power of microscope. Is there any color? How 
does this appear under the microscope? Do you distinguish a line (lateral line) 
along one of the rows of scales on the side of the body? Examine one of these 
scales under the microscope. How does it differ from the others? How many 
rows of scales above the lateral line? Below? 

The Head. — What goes to make up the head of the fish? Note position, shape 
and size of mouth. Find the bony framework: upper jaw (premaxillaries in front 
articulating with maxillaries behind); lower jaw (dentaries). Are both jaws 
movable? Locate all the bones which bear teeth? How are teeth arranged? 
Is there a tongue? Do the nostrils communicate with the mouth cavity? 

Eyes: number, position, coverings (lids?), iris, pupil. 

Are there any " ears ? " Evidences? . 

Gills and Gill-coverings. — How many bones in the gill cover (operculum)? 
Describe the structure at its inner, lower margin. How wide is the isthmus 
between the right and left gill-openings? Identify and number the gill arches, 
which bear the reddish gill-filaments, and the gill slits between. With what do the 
passages between the gill arches communicate? Determine by extending a probe 
into mouth. How does the inner or pharyngeal side of the gill arches differ from 
that which bears the filaments? Examine the gills for parasites: 

C. Internal Structure. — With forceps and sharp scalpel remove a strip of skin 
an inch wide from one side of the fish, from the belly to the dorsal fin. Note the 
muscular segments (myotomes). Is the line separating two of these a straight line? 
In what direction do the muscle fibres run? 

With scissors cut the body wall along the middle line of the belly from just in 
front of the anus to the isthmus. Be very careful not to injure any of the organs 
within the ccelom. A portion of the side muscles may be removed on one side 
or cuts may be made perpendicular to the first so that the sides may be more readily 
opened. Notice the lining of the body cavity (peritoneum). Color? How is 
the heart separated from the abdominal cavity? (False diaphragm.) Sketch 
the cavities thus laid open and represent the organs as they appear before dis- 
turbing them. Has the liver lobes? 

Examine more in detail, turning liver to one side. 

I. Digestive Organs. — Extend probe through the mouth into stomach, and 
locate: esophagus; stomach, form and position; intestine, its point of origin, course 
and outlet. About the junction of stomach and small intestine look for finger-like 
projections from the surface of the gut (pyloric cceca). If present, cut one: is it 
solid or hollow? Examine the membrane (mesentery) which holds the intestine 
in place. To what part of the body wall is it attached? The spleen, a dark-red, 
ductless gland, occurs close to the intestine. Cut intestine an inch from the anus 



318 ZOOLOGY 

and the esophagus in front of stomach. Remove, open, and examine interior. 
Figure differences in different portions. Look for parasites in the tract. 

2. Reproductive and Excretory Organs. — Find the whitish testes or the yellow 
or pinkish ovary (or ovaries). Do they possess ducts? Where is the outlet? 

Observe position and dimensions of the air-bladder (if present) ; pierce it and 
discover dorsal to it the red kidneys. Number, shape, and dimensions of these? 
Can you find their outlets? 

3. Pericardial Cavity and its Contents. 
Shape and boundaries of the cavity. 

Heart: position; portions; ventricle (ventral) and auricle (more dorsal). 

From the ventricle the whitish bulbus arteriosus passes forward and 

narrows into the ventral aorta. Posterior to the heart is the thin- walled 

sinus venosus which communicates with the auricle. 

[The teacher may supplement this work by a demonstration of the ventral 

aorta with its branches passing to the gills, by means of a larger fish in which these 

vessels have been injected with a colored mass. See appendix.] 

4. The Nervous System. — Cut off the head and remove the muscles from the 
back and top of the skull. Use a strong cartilage knife and gradually slice and 
pick the bone until the cavity within is well uncovered. Note the loose tissues 
covering the brain. Remove this with great care. 

Beginning in front, identify as you pass backward: olfactory lobes, tapering 
toward the front and communicating with the nasal cavities; cerebrum, two oval 
prominences meeting in the middle line; the two large, rounded optic lobes; the 
cerebellum, a single median lobe ; and the medulla oblongata, which tapers backward 
into the spinal cord. Is there any real boundary between the spinal cord and the 
medulla, or is the distinction arbitrary? What is the size of the cord where it 
emerges from the cranium? What is its position in relation to the vertebrae? 
Have you found any nerves leaving the medulla or the cord? If so how many? 
Are there any cavities in the brain lobes? 

5. The Eye. — Remove the bone from above the eye and examine it in position. 
How is the eye moved in life? Can you discover any of the muscles effecting these 
motions? How are they attached? What is the shape of the eye? Split it 
open, and find the lens. Is the lens more or less nearly spherical than you expected ? 

6. The Skeleton. — The general shape and character of the skull and its bones 
may be seen by boiling the head of another fish and scraping and picking away the 
flesh. The principal regions are the cranium or brain case, the opercular bones of 
the gill covers, and the facial bones. Notice the loose way in which the lower jaw 
is articulated. 

Boil a two inch block taken from the tail of the fish until it becomes tender. 
Notice incidentally the shape of the individual myotomes or muscle segments as 
they fall apart. Clean the vertebras of flesh, and study the structure of one of 
them. Note the centrum; the dorsal or neural arch and spine; the ventral or heemal 
arch and spine. What is the shape of the centrum ? What structures occupy 
the arches? Prepare a trunk vertebra and compare in all respects with the caudal. 
How are the ribs related to the vertebra? Can you find any evidence whether 
they are homologous with the haemal processes ? 

Are there any bones connected with the fins? 

D. General Questions. — What internal organs show segmentation? Do they 
show it equally in all parts of the body? Do the internal organs show bilateral 



CHORD ATA 319 

symmetry as completely as the external ? How do .you account for the fact ? 
Compare the relative position of the anterior and posterior appendages in as many 
species of fish as you can secure? What are the habits of the species you have 
been studying? Feeding habits; spawning and breeding habits? What are its 
nearest relatives among the fishes? 

E. Studies in Nature. — Many most interesting and instructive problems present 
themselves for the student of fishes in their native haunts, if the school is favorably 
situated. What species are found in the nearby waters? How do they differ in 
appearance? How in habits of feeding; of swimming; of spawning? What kind 
of habitat does each prefer? What knowledge must a successful fisherman of a 
given species have? 

342. The Frog. (Rand). — Any species of frog will serve. 
For internal anatomy as large specimens as possible should be 
used. The frog is especially suitable to represent the verte- 
brates because of its metamorphosis from a water-breathing 
or fish habit into the air-breathing condition, and the readiness 
with which the main facts of this metamorphosis may be fol- 
lowed even by an elementary class. Frogs may be kept alive 
almost indefinitely, even through the winter, by putting them 
in a deep box covered with netting, in which a pan of water 
is placed. The bottom of the box should be covered by sod 
or moss which must be kept moist. Change the water in the 
pan every few days. Do not place large and small frogs in 
the same box, as the small ones are more than likely to disap- 
pear. Unless living animals, as grasshoppers and the like, 
can be given them it is scarcely worth while to try to feed 
them. They seem to do quite as well without food for a 
reasonable length of time. 

A. The Living Animal (chiefly physiology). — One or more 
exercises may well be given to observation of frogs in their 
native haunts, if the study comes at such time as will allow. 
You will know enough about the frog to set for discovery a 
number of interesting things. Keep careful notes of all your 
questions and your discoveries. If field study is not possible, 
much can be gained by studying living specimens in the labora- 
tory. Record what you know from observation of the animal's 
general haunts and habits. To what extent is it a terrestrial 
animal ? Aquatic ? What is the natural position when at rest ? 
What are its modes of locomotion on land ? Place on the floor, 
and test. Describe its motions in water, and the use made of 



320 ZOOLOGY 

the parts of the body in swimming and in its other methods of 
locomotion. Can it rest at the surface of the water? How 
much of the body protrudes from the water? How does it 
dive? Can you find any evidence that it does anything to 
increase its specific gravity when diving? 

Feed by placing living grasshoppers or flies in the vessel 
with a frog, or by dangling a piece of meat in front of it at 
the end of a string. Note the action of the tongue in making 
the capture. Examine the mode of attachment of- tongue, 
and suggest its possible advantages. 

Watch the animal while floating at the surface of water or 
out of water. Can you detect any signs of breathing? Note 
carefully the nostrils, the cheeks and the sides of the abdomen, 
and determine how it gets air into its lungs. Prove your con- 
clusions. Determine what senses are represented in the frog. 
How does it react to salines, acids, sweets, bitters? Judging 
from the position' of the eyes and from experiment, can a frog 
on the ground see objects in all directions ? Can it do so while 
floating on the surface of the water? Are the eyes movable? 
Can the frog see any point with both eyes at the same time? 
What happens if a frog is placed on his back ? Explain. Does 
the frog seem to have any sense of elevation when he comes to 
the edge of a table? How do you estimate this? By experi- 
ment and by reference determine whether the frog's actions are 
at all modified by experience. 

Select a small frog and chloroform it until quiet, but not 
enough to kill it. Wrap it in a wet cloth, and place on a support 
of such height as will allow the web to be stretched over the open- 
ing in the stage of the microscope. With the lower power note 
the pigment cells and blood vessels. Determine which are 
arteries and which veins; present your evidences. By placing a 
little water and a cover-glass on the web the high power may be 
used, and the behavior of the corpuscles studied as they pass 
through the capillaries. Similar studies may be made on the 
gills of very young tadpoles. 

B. External Anatomy. — What is its symmetry? Compare 
carefully the structure and form of the dorsal with that of 
ventral surface; similarly those of the anterior and posterior 



CHORD ATA 321 

ends. Compare several individuals as to shape, color markings, 
size, etc. 

General form. 

Head, trunk, limbs. Is there any neck? 

Anterior appendages: arm, forearm, hand (including 
digits). Compare with your own hand, and deter- 
mine which is the first digit, or the thumb side of 
the hand. 
Posterior appendages: thigh, shank, ankle, foot. How 
many digits ? Which is the first ? How many joints 
in each? What other peculiarities are noteworthy? 
Special head structure. 

Mouth; position, dimensions, degree of extensibility; 

tongue; teeth, where located? 
Sense organs: position of eyes, ears, nose. Do the nasal 
openings communicate with the mouth? Pierce the 
tympanic membrane in a dead frog and discover with 
what the opening communicates. 
Cloacal opening. 

C. Internal Anatomy. — Make a slit in the skin of the ventral 
surface from a point just in front of the cloaca forward to the 
throat, a little to one side of the middle line. Make incisions 
perpendicular to this and turn the flaps back to show the 
muscles beneath. Is the skin as closely attached to the muscles 
as in the fish? Do you find myotomes as in the fish? Draw 
in outline some of the more important muscles of the chest and 
abdomen. Cut the muscular wall in the same way, passing to 
one side of the breast bone. Turn back the flaps and sketch 
and identify the organs in their position in the ccelom. 

1. Digestive Organs. — Pressing the liver aside, identify the 
following parts of the digestive tube: esophagus, stomach, 
small intestine, large intestine. Are there any sharp boundaries 
between these parts ? 

Compare the lengths of the different portions. Find the 
mesentery, and show its relation to the intestines. What is 
the relation of the liver to the digestive tube? Find the gall- 
bladder: does it have any duct leading to the tube? What is 



32 2 ZOOLOGY 

the position of the light colored pancreas? Of the darker 
spleen (this organ has no duct) ? 

Cut the large intestine about an inch from the anal opening 
and the esophagus in front of the stomach; remove the tract 
from the body. Split it from end to end, wash it of its contents 
and describe and make drawings of the interior. Do you find 
any internal parasites? 

2 . Urinogenital Organs. — Without removing any other organs 
identify : 

The kidneys: color, form, position. Do they have any 

outlet? The bladder; position and general structure. 
The fat bodies : position ? With what connected ? 
In the male: 

Testes; yellowish, rounded bodies. With what organ 

connected ? 
How in a fresh specimen can you be sure you have found 
the testes ? 
In the female : 

Ovaries, which vary much in size and appearance with 
the time of year. What are their position and at- 
tachments ? 
Oviducts. Do these communicate with the body cavity? 
How do they communicate with the exterior ? Is there 
any trace of the oviducts in the male ? 

3. The Lungs. — Open the mouth, find the glottis \ insert a 
blow-pipe, and inflate the lungs: number, position and shape? 
Cut them open and examine the inner surface. 

4. The Circulatory System. 

The heart: Does this organ lie free in the body cavity? 
What is the shape of the heart ? To what is it attached ? 
identify the auricles in front, and the ventricle behind. Can 
you recognize the aorta arising from the ventricle; and the 
venous sinus dorsal to the heart and receiving the large veins? 
How many chambers to the heart? Their relation to each 
other ? 

Further study can be pursued successfully only by injecting 
the vessels with a colored mass. If time allows each student 
may well inject the arterial system and trace its course. At 



CHORD ATA 323 

least a specimen thus injected and dissected by volunteers 
should be used to demonstrate the three aortic arches (carotid, 
systemic and pulmonary), the dorsal aorta and its chief branches. 
5. Muscle. — Strip the skin from the leg. Without cutting, 
separate the muscles from each other, demonstrating their gen- 
eral shape and the tendons at the ends by which they are con- 
nected with the bones. The end attached to the least movable 
bone is the origin, the other, the insertion. What is the origin 
and what the insertion of the large muscles of the thigh? Are 
the muscle fibres plain or cross-striate ? (Examine a small bit 
under the microscope after tearing it apart as much as possible.) 
These studies may very well be extended to include the muscles 
of the throat, chest, arm, abdomen, and leg. In all such studies 
the most important question the student can ask and answer is 
this: "What does this muscle do when it contracts?" To 
answer the question one must find the origin and insertion of 
the muscle, as well as its relation to other muscles. Which are 
extensor and which reflexor muscles ? 

6. Nervous System. — Remove with great care the skin, muscles and bone from 
the roof of the skull so as to expose the brain. Continue backward and expose the 
anterior portion of the spinal cord. Sketch, as it appears from above, and identify, 
beginning with the anterior end: 

Olfactory lobes. 

Cerebral hemispheres; number, size, form. Are they separate? 

Optic lobes. 

Cerebellum; a narrow transverse band. 

Medulla oblongata, tapering into the spinal cord. 
Examine the nerves arising from the spinal cord. Look within the body cavity 
also for these. What is their position in relation to the vertebras? How many 
pairs can you discover? Does each arise by a single or double root? Find the 
large nerve {sciatic) which is the chief nerve of the hind leg. How many spinal 
nerves enter into the formation of it? Identify a similar plexus in connection with 
the front leg. Seek the sympathetic ganglia in body cavity on either side^of the 
backbone. 

Dissect the bone and muscle from one side of the skull, showing the cranial 
nerves. Begin at the anterior end and identify: (1) the olfactory nerve; cut, and 
lift the brain slightly, showing (2) optic nerves. Cut these as far from the brain as 
possible. 

Note other smaller nerves and cut these. How many are there? From what 
part of the brain do the majority of them arise? Do the optic nerves join at the 
point where they enter the brain? 

7. Skeleton. — Pick the bulk of the flesh from the bones of an uninjured skeleton. 
Boiling will be of advantage in the final stages of cleaning. Identify the axial 



324 



ZOOLOGY 



skeleton and the appendicular . Do the appendages unite directly with the axial 
skeleton? If not, what? Count the vertebrae. To what extend fo they differ? 
Can they be grouped into regions ? Select a typical one, and draw from various 
positions to show structure. Do any bear ribs? Describe the posterior bone in 
the series. Identify the parts of the anterior and posterior limbs and girdles by 
referring to Fig. 161, and see to what extent they depart from the type described 
there, Make outline sketches of all the bones of the right girdles and appendages. 
What is the nature and action of the various joints of the limbs? In the skull 
notice how small a portion is brain-case. How is the great width of the head 
secured? How is the lower jaw related to the skull? Make a sketch showing 
the proportions of these various parts. In what position are teeth borne? Ex- 
amine the sternum or breast bone. How related to the girdle ? Of what parts is it 
composed. How much of it is cartilaginous? 

8. Development. — Eggs of frogs and toads may be found in the early spring in 
ponds or sluggish streams, floating or attached to submerged objects. They 
occur in slimy strings or masses, each egg enveloped in a jelly-like covering. 
Transfer these to the laboratory, and keep covered with water in a shallow vessel. 
Change the water frequently, and keep a close watch on the changes which the 
eggs undergo. After hatching keep a few water plants in the vessels for the tad- 
poles to eat. 

Note appearance of the egg (with low power of microscope). 
Gelatine: outer layer, not really a part of the egg. 
Fertilized ovum; the darker interior sphere, of protoplasm and yolk. 

If the eggs are recently laid, the beginning of segmentation will furnish an 
interesting demonstration for the class. How are the first cleavage planes related 
to each other? ^ 

If more advanced, note especially: the gradual elongation of the embryo, the 
enlargement of the head, development of the tail, hatching, the external gills. 
What becomes of the gills? Do you find any trace of mouth, eyes, nasal openings? 
Where do the legs first appear? What becojses of the tail? Prove. Tadpoles 
of all ages may usually be found in the shallow ponds late in spring. These should 
be compared with those reared in the laboratory. Dissect one of the larger tad- 
poles, and examine particularly the intestine and the gill chamber. 

343. Compare with the frog any other amphibian types which can be found, — 
as the toad, the newt,, or the salamander. Note especially the differences in habits, 
haunts, external form, appendages, method and time of depositing eggs, the form 
of the tadpoles, etc. 

Descriptive Text 

344. General Characters. — In common with the simpler 
Chordata thus far considered the Vertebrata are bilaterally 
symmetrical Metazoa with a ccelomic cavity, a notochord de- 
rived from the entoderm, gill-slits at some stage of life, dorsal 
nerve tube and a ventral heart. In addition, the following 
points may be given as distinguishing the true vertebrates: 

1. Notochord surrounded by a sheath of tissue derived from 
the mesoderm, thus producing around the notochord the internal 



CHORD ATA 325 

skeletal axis, the centra of the vertebras, composed either of 
cartilage or bone (Figs. 156-158). 

2. Outgrowths from these centra extending dorsally to pro- 
tect the nerve tube, and ventrally to protect the viscera (Fig. 

3. Several sets of organs with varying degrees of meta- 
meric segmentation: e.g., vertebral column; muscular system; 
nervous system. 

4. Jointed appendages having a central skeleton never ex- 
ceed two pairs; one pair or both of them may be rudimentary 
or wanting. 

5 . Respiratory system developed in connection with anterior 
end of digestive tract. 

6. Heart with at least two chambers and the blood containing 
red corpuscles. 

345. General Form. — While varying greatly in form, ver- 
tebrates are typically elongated animals with the mouth at or 
near the anterior extremity of the long axis. The position of 
the anus is variable. It may be one-half the length of the 
body from the posterior end. The body is roughly divisible 
into head and trunk with or without an intervening neck. The 
neck is more pronounced in the land than in the water forms. 
Posterior to the trunk containing the body cavity, there may 
be a tail into which the skeleton is continued but which is 
destitute of a body cavity. 

Bilateral symmetry is shown by the paired condition of the 
eyes, ears, and other external, and, to a less degree, internal 
organs. Metamerism on the contrary is much more evident 
from the internal .than from the external organs. There are 
usually two pairs of lateral appendages for support and loco- 
motion: the thoracic at the anterior end of the trunk, and the 
pelvic, ordinarily occurring near the union of the trunk and 
tail. These are variously modified as to their form and in- 
ternal structure (e.g., fins, legs, arms, wings), but are looked 
upon as homologous. In many water forms there are median 
appendages (dorsal, ventral, and caudal fins) also assisting in 
locomotion. The ccelom or body cavity is well represented in 
the trunk region, and arises by a splitting of the mesoderm into 



326 ZOOLOGY 

an inner layer which comes to. unite with the digestive tract 
and an outer layer which unites with the ectoderm (Fig. 156). 
In this — the visceral cavity — beside the mesoderm-covered 
digestive tract to which reference has already been made, lie 
the principal organs of respiration, of excretion, of circulation, 
and of reproduction. Dorsal to the notochord the nervous 
system occupies a cavity within the mesoderm, which is not, 
however, a part of the ccelom. This is described as the dorsal 
or neural cavity and is protected by a sheath of cartilage or 
bone. In the anterior region this is much enlarged to accom- 
modate the brain. This condition of a dorsal and ventral 
cavity is very characteristic of vertebrates. In mammals the 
ventral cavity is further divided by the diaphragm into an 
anterior or thoracic and a posterior or abdominal cavity. 

346. Protective and Supportive Structures — the Integu- 
ment.-^-Covering the body of vertebrates is the skin, which 
consists of two layers; — the outer, or epidermis, which is de- 
rived from the ectoderm, and the dermis or true skin which is 
mesodermal in origin. The epidermis consists of from two 
to many layers of cells in thickness, and in the higher forms 
the differentiation into layers becomes very pronounced (Fig. 
155, E). The outermost cells of the epidermis frequently be- 
come hardened for the better protection of the parts within. 
This is especially true of the terrestrial forms. The inner layer 
of the epidermis is usually columnar in form, and from this 
layer the outer cells are renewed, and all special epidermal 
growths arise (Fig. 155, c.e.). The dermis consists largely 
of connective tissue, but contains in addition nerves and blood 
vessels beside such ingrowths from the epidermis as glands, 
hair-follicles, etc. Fat is deposited in the lower layers of the 
dermis in many vertebrates. 

347. Special Products of the Integument often occur in the 
form of outgrowths or ingrowths. Glands are examples of the 
latter, and are frequent in connection with the epidermis. They 
may be simple and unicellular (mucous glands in fishes) or 
multicellular, penetrating deep into the dermis (sweat and oil 
glands, Fig. 155, sg). The mammary glands of Mammalia are 
possibly modified forms of the sweat glands. The outgrowths 



CHORDATA 



327 



may be purely epidermal, as in hair, feathers, nails, hoofs, claws, 
and the scales of some reptiles ; or in other instances the principal 
structures are formed in the dermis, usually with an outer layer 




Fig. 155. Diagram of the skin in Mammals, showing the multiple layered condition, together 
with'outgrowths and ingrowths. Drawn by Dr. J. W. Folsom. E, epidermis; D, dermis; c, adi- 
pose tissue, — fat deposited amid the connective tissue; b, blood vessels; c.e., columnar epithelial 
layer of the epidermis; /, hair follicle; h, hair; n, nerve; n.e., nerve ending (sensory corpuscle); P, 
pore of sweat gland; seb., sebaceous or oil gland of hair; s.g. t sweat gland; s.c, horny layer of .epider- 
mis; s.m., mucous layer of epidermis. 

Questions on the figure. — What suggests that the columnar layer of the epi- 
dermis is the most vitally important layer? Are the hair and glands dermal or 
epidermal growths? Which structures found in the dermis seem to be invasions 
of that layer by outside structures? What are the functions of the various layers 
of the skin? Which parts are ectodermal and which mesodermal in origin? 



contributed by the epidermis, as in the teeth or the scales and 
bony plates which form in many instances (turtle, armadillo, 
etc.), a very complete external skeleton. Some of the bones 



328 



ZOOLOGY 



of this external, or dermal, skeleton persist even in the highest 
forms (e. g., man) and unite with bones of the internal skeleton, 
as in the formation of the cranium and the facial bones. 

The most apparent function of the skin is protection. The 
outgrowths (hair, scales, claws, etc.), evidently increase its 
adaptation to this function. In addition, the skin is partly 
respiratory and excretory. The glands represent a specializa- 
tion of this latter function. It is also sensory, and in an indirect 
way assists in regulating bodily temperature, especially in the 
warm-blooded types. 

348. The Skeleton. — Attention has already been called to 
the exoskeleton as the derivative of the skin. The endoskele- 



Pig. 156. 



coe. 




Fig, 156. Diagram of transverse section through embryo of a Vertebrate, showing the mode 
of origin and the relations of the notochord, nervous cord, ectoderm, entoderm and mesoderm (see 
also Fig. 15). coe., ccelomic pouches; ect., ectoderm; ent., entoderm; g, lumen of the gut; iv., invagi- 
nation of ectoderm which forms the nerve cord (see c, in succeeding figures); mes 1 ., somatic or body 
mesoderm; mes 2 ., splanchnic mesoderm, that portion of the mesoderm which becomes allied with 
the entoderm; «, the nerve (spinal) cord; n.e„ notochord, arising by an outpocketing of the entoderm. 

ton is surrounded by muscles separating it from the integument. 
In general it may be said that these two bony systems supple- 
ment each other. In the higher forms where the internal 
skeleton is best developed the exoskeleton is usually reduced 
to a minimum. Elements from both sources may become fused 
in the formation of a single structure (the skull; the carapace 
of the turtle). A difference between the internal and the 



CHORD AT A 329 

external skeleton is in the fact that bone of the former is typically 
formed in and around cartilage, whereas in the latter there is no 
cartilage. The internal skeleton consists of two portions, (i) 
the axial, embracing the vertebral column, and (2) the appen- 
dicular, or that supporting the appendages. 

As was seen in the arthropods the chief functions of skeletons 
are to protect and support soft parts, and to furnish hard lever- 
ages for muscular attachment. It is clear that any rigid skeleton 
which entirely surrounds an elongated animal must have some 
breaks or articulations in it. We found this to be true in 
Crustacea and insects. Similarly in the internal skeleton in 
vertebrates, the attached muscles would be useless if there were 
no joints. It is clear that solid bones coming together in a joint 
with the muscles external to them will make a stronger articula- 
tion than hollow shells coming together like the segments of a 
stovepipe. The arthropod joint is effective for small animals 
but would not meet the needs of the large vertebrates. 

349. Axial Skeleton. — In its simplest condition this consists 
of the notochord which it will be remembered is derived from 
the entoderm and lies between the alimentary canal and the 
spinal cord (Fig. 156). In the true vertebrates, cells arising from 
the mesodermal pockets on either side (Fig. 158) produce a 
continuous skeleton-forming sheath about the notochord. 
From the cells of this sheath are developed, finally, rings of 
cartilage or bone about the notochord {centrum; pleural, centra, 
Fig. 159, c) and about the spinal cord {spinous processes, Fig. 
159, no). These, with certain other growths, constitute the 
typical vertebrae. In this process the notochord often becomes 
obliterated by the developing vertebrae. To each vertebra 
may be attached a pair _of , ribs, which protect the ventral 
structures, somewhat as the neural arch protects the nerve cord. 
The ribs of fishes and of the higher forms are not considered 
to be homologous structures (Figs. 159, 160). 

The axial skeleton varies from this typical condition in dif- 
ferent parts of its course. In the head region, for example, 
the nervous cord is immensely enlarged and the neural arches 
are much modified, being replaced by plates and supplemented 



33o 



ZOOLOGY 



by the dermal bones. The following regions may be described 
as typical: 

i . Head region (skull) embracing the cranium or brain case 
and its associated ventral arches including the bones of the face. 

2. Cervical vertebrae, located in the neck and lacking ribs. 
Usually the anterior one or two are considerably modified. 



Fig. 157. 



Fig. 158. 



n.c. 




Pig. 157- Diagram similar in position and lettering to Fig. 156, at a later stage, c, central canal 

of spinal cord. 
Fig. 158. Transverse section of an embryo Vertebrate at a stage later than Fig. 157. m, 
mesentery; sk„ the beginning of the mesodermal skeleton which surrounds the notochord (n.c), 
and in part the spinal (nerve) cord, n. 

Questions on the figures 156 to 158. — How does the mesoderm originate in 
vertebrates? Trace its gradual growth and differentiation in the figures. What 
two principal portions are to be distinguished? How does the notochord arise? 
How the spinal cord ? What is the source of the cavity of the spinal cord ? From 
which of the three layers does the protecting skeleton arise? What does the 
mesentery connect? What other organs might be expected in the ccelom, if it 
were the purpose to make a complete diagram of the visceral organs? 

3. Dorsal vertebrae, in the thoracic region and bearing well- 
developed ribs which may unite with a ventral bone, the 
sternum. 

4. Lumbar vertebrae, following the dorsal vertebrae and not 
bearing ribs. 

5. Sacral vertebrae, usually a small number of vertebrae, fre- 
quently fused into one piece with which the girdles of the 
posterior appendages unite. 



CHORDATA 



331 



6. Caudal vertebrae, posterior to the sacrum and possessing 
no ribs. 

The number of bones in these regions is very variable in 
the phylum as a whole, but, in the higher forms particularly, 
individuals of related species present remarkable uniformity. 

(The discussion of the condition of the skull and the origin of its parts is entirely 
too technical for an elementary text. The student should refer to more .advanced 
works.) 

Fig. 159. 





Fig. 159. Diagram of veterbrae of a bony fish. A, caudal; B, trunk, c, centrum or body of 
the vertebra; ch., the notocLord; h. a., haemal arch; h.c, haemal canal; h.s., haemal spine; h.z., haemal 
cygapophysis, or articulating facet; m.b., inter-muscular bone; n.a., neural arch; n.c, neural canal; 
n. s., neural spine; n.z., neural zygapophysis; r, rib. 

Questions on the figures. — What is the meaning of haemal? Of neural? In 
life what occupies the neural canal? What occupies the haemal canal in the caudal 
region? In the trunk region? Is there anything to suggest that the ribs in fishes 
are homologous with the processes which form the haemal arch (h.a.) ? 



350. The Appendicular Skeleton. — Here are embraced the 
skeletal parts of the appendages proper, together with the bones 
binding them to the axial skeleton (girdles). Each girdle may 
be said to consist typically of three bones, uniting to form a joint 
with the first bone of the limb. One of these is dorsal and the 
others ventral (Fig. 161, B; il, is, p.). The appendages are 
much alike both as to their girdles and the limbs proper. The 
posterior is, in higher forms, more intimately fused with the 
axial skeleton, thus securing greater strength at the expense of 
freedom of motion. The first joint of each appendage consists 
of one bone (arm or thigh) ; the second, of two (forearm or 



332 



ZOOLOGY 



shank) ; then follows a region of several small bones (wrist or 
ankle), succeeded by the hand or foot with five (usually) bones, 
and then by five digits (fingers, toes) of a varying number of 
joints. The accompanying diagrams (Fig. 161) will make 
clear these relations, as well as the names of the bones. Bones 
may disappear or fuse with others in such a way as to cause 
wide variation from this type; indeed the type is perhaps never 
realized in any single animal. In fishes the appendage and the 
girdle are often very simple, the limb being little more than 



Fig. 160. 




Fig. 160. Diagram of a trunk vertebra in a Mammal, c, centrum; ch., position originally 
occupied by the notochord; h., head of the rib; h.c, haemal cavity; n.a., neural arch; n.c, neural 
canal; n.s. t neural spine; r., rib; St., sternum; s.c, sternal cartilage uniting ribs and sternum; t.p., 
transverse process of vertebra; tu., tubercle of rib. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare all the parts here with corresponding ones 
of Fig. 159: A, B, and note the differences. What is gained by the articulation 
of ribs with a sternum? What is lost? In which groups of Vertebrates is a 
sternum found? In which are fully developed ribs found? 

radiating fin-rays covered by a membrane (Figs. 177, 178). 
Yet it is believed that from some such primitive condition the 
more specialized appendages have arisen. 

351. The Digestive Organs. — As in many of the inverte- 
brates which we have studied, the alimentary canal in the 
vertebrates possesses an anterior, ectodermal portion (stomo- 
daeum), a mid-gut lined with entoderm (mesenteron), and a 
posterior ectodermal part (proctodeum) . The tract is lined 
throughout with a mucous membrane. Outside of this are the 




CHORDATA 
Fig 161. 



_l_sc. *(.__ 



333 




kn. <~» 



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Fig. 161. Diagrams of the girdles and appendages in a typical Vertebrate. A, anterior; B, 
posterior, ac, acetabulum, articulation of the humerus with its girdle; c, coracoid; ca., carpals; 
c.e., centralia; d.c, distal carpals; d.U, distal tarsals; el., elbow joint;/, fibula;/*., femur;/*., fibulare; 
gc, glenoid cavity, articulation of arm with girdle; h, humerus; il., ilium; in., intermediale; is. 
ischium; kn., knee joint; m.c, metacarpals (i-s); m.t., metatarsals (1-5); Pt pubis; ph., phalanges 
(i-5); Pf-c, precoracoid; r, radius; ra„ radiale; sc, scapula; /, tibia; ta., tarsals; ti., tibiale; «., ulna; 
ul., ulnare. 

Questions on the figures. — Compare the two appendages throughout and note 
the corresponding bones. How much is girdle? How much appendage proper? 
How many carpals? Tarsals? Which are proximal? Which distal? How do 



334 ZOOLOGY . 

the phalanges differ? Which is the thumb? How can you be sure? Compare 
this figure with figures (in reference texts) of the appendages, both front and rear, 
of the frog; of some bird; or some carnivore; of the horse; of man. Where are the 
greatest variations, i.e., which bones depart most from this typical condition? 

layers of unstriped muscle fibres, circular and longitudinal, 
by which the food is forced onward. The muscles are espe- 
cially developed in certain regions, as in the stomach. Outside 
of all these, in the portion passing through the body cavity, is 
the serous membrane derived from the mesoderm, a portion 
of the lining of the body cavity. The mucous surface which 
is, naturally enough, the important portion in digestion and 
absorption may be increased by the lengthening of the tube as 
a whole or by means of outgrowths (the glands) or by ingrowths 
(folds of various kinds). The highly nourished condition of the 
entodermal sheet of cells presumably leads to their rapid growth 
and foldings. The folds are often so arranged across the axis 
of the tube as to retard the progress of the food through the 
tract, thus making digestion and absorption more complete, by 
increasing the time during which the food is exposed to the 
action of the digestive juices, and to the absorbing surface. 

352. The Divisions of the Tract. — The mouth, which may- be 
either terminal or ventral, opens into the buccal cavity, which is 
bounded dorsally by the floor of the brain case, on the sides and 
in front by the jaws, and ventrally by a muscular floor from 
which the tongue arises as a fold. The jaws are made up of 
bony elements from two sources ; a core of bones from the internal 
skeleton (the first visceral arch) and a covering of dermal bones 
which fuse with it. The latter are the bones which (typically) 
bear the teeth. Teeth however occur in the lower vertebrates 
in the roof of the mouth or on the tongue. Their place may 
be taken by horny epidermal structures, as in the beak of birds. 
When present the salivary glands open into the mouth cavity. 
Posteriorly the buccal cavity communicates with the pharynx, 
which may be defined as the part of the digestive tract in con- 
nection with which the lungs or gills are developed. In fishes 
and in the embryos of higher forms there are slits in the side 
walls connecting the pharynx with the outside. Gills are 
developed in the walls of these slits. In forms above fishes the 



CHORDATA 



335 



slits become closed as the embryo develops. Above the 
Amphibia they never bear gills. 

The esophagus is a narrow muscular tube of varying length 




Pig. 162. Stomach of Dog {A) and of Rat (B). c t cardiac portion; p, pyloric portion; o, 

esophagus; *, intestine. 

Fig. 163. 




Pig. 163. Diagram of the stomach of a ruminant, o, esophagus; r, rumen or paunch; re., reticu- 
lum, or honeycomb; p, psalterium or manyplies; a, abomasum or rennet; *', intestine. 

Questions on figures 162 and 163. — Taken as a series, what is illustrated by the 
three diagrams? What do the arrows indicate? What is known of the function 
of the various portions of the ruminant stomach? 



leading to the stomach. In birds an enlarged portion of it 
(the crop) may serve for the temporary storing and softening of 
the food. 



33^ 



ZOOLOGY 



The stomach is usually well differentiated and may consist 
of one chamber or of several. In the latter case there is a 
division of labor among "the parts. One portion may be highly 
muscular and supplied with a hardened internal lining for 
grinding the food (gizzard of fowls, Fig. 164); in such in- 
stances another portion is glandular. In the ruminants (ox, 
deer, etc.), there are four chambers in the stomach (Fig. 163). 
The gastric glands produce an acid secretion which contains 
certain enzymes acting chiefly on protein foods. 

Fig. 164. 




Pig. 164. Diagram of the stomach and esophagus of the Fowl, o, esophagus; c, crop; p, pro- 
ventriculus or glandular stomach; g, gizzard or grinding stomach; *', intestine. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare this figure with that of the stomach of 
ruminants as to complexity. What are the functions of the various portions? 
What changes take place in the gizzard of flesh-eating birds if they are forced to 
live on grain? Why is the crop located outside the cavity inclosed by the ribs? 



The food is retained in the stomach by means of a circular 
{sphincter) muscle at its posterior end where it narrows into 
the intestine. This latter portion is the principal digestive and 
absorptive portion of the tract and. varies much in length in 
the various groups in accordance with the nature of the food 
used, — the vegetable feeders for the most part possessing the 
longest intestines. Numerous circular or spiral folds of the 
mucous membrane occur in the intestine. Special absorptive 
organs {villi) supplied with blood and lymph vessels may cover 
these folds. Near the anterior end the ducts of the liver 
and pancreas open into the intestine. The liver is the largest 



CHORD ATA 337 

of the glands, and the pancreas one of the most important in 
digestion. The intestine may open directly on the exterior 
(most mammals), or into the ectodermal pocket (cloaca) which 
also receives the excretory and genital products (reptiles and 
birds) . 

353. Exercises for Field and Library. 

1. What difference have you observed in the number, position, and kinds of 
teeth in the various vertebrates of your acquaintance ? 

2. Can you cite from your observation any evidences of special adaptation of 
the parts of the digestive tract to the peculiar food and habits of the animal pos- 
sessing it? Supplement by library references. 

3. To what extent is food prepared in the mouth, i.e., antecedent to swallowing, 
in the various vertebrates whose habits you have observed ? 

354. Respiration. — As in all higher animals there are two 
things to be considered in the respiration of vertebrates: (i) 
the exchange, between the blood and the external medium, 
air or water, of carbon dioxide for oxygen, which may be called 
external respiration, and (2) the exchange by which the blood 
gives the cells of the body oxygen and receives their carbon 
dioxid, or internal respiration. The former is usually meant 
when the simple term respiration is used, though the latter is 
really the vital process. A certain amount of respiration takes 
place through the skin in almost all vertebrates. Beside this, 
special devices — both gills and lungs — are developed by which 
the blood and the medium containing the oxygen are brought 
into closer relation. In fishes and larval amphibians gills are 
present; in most adult amphibians and in reptiles, birds, and 
mammals, only lungs occur. 

Gills are thin-walled external folds or groups of filaments 
bounded by a mucous membrane, in which the blood circulates 
freely. In vertebrates they are found on the wall of passages 
leading from the pharynx to the outside (gill-slits). The water 
passes into the mouth and out over the gills, through the thin 
walls of which the gases are exchanged. The walls between the 
slits may be supported by cartilages or bones (visceral or gill- 
arches). The gill-slits ordinarily vary from four to eight in 
number. In the higher, air-breathing vertebrates traces of the 
gill-slits appear in embryonic development, but they never bear 
gills. (See Figs. 32, 33.) 



338 ZOOLOGY 

355. Lungs arise as out-pocketings of the ventral wall of 
the pharynx. These may persist as relatively simple sacs, as 
in the frog, or by great growth and folding they may become 
very complicated, and thus increase their surface to a wonder- 
ful degree. They are lined throughout with the entodermal 
epithelium. The blood capillaries are in contact with this 
layer and through these thin walls the gases are exchanged. 
The outer surface of the lung is covered by the pleura, the 
lining of the body cavity. The tube connecting the pharynx 
with the body of the. lung is known as the trachea. The upper 
or anterior end of the trachea is modified into a chamber 
known as the larynx in the air-breathing vertebrates. The 
epiglottis closes the opening (glottis) from the pharynx into 
the larynx, whenever food is passing from the mouth through 
the pharynx into the gullet. On account of the presence 
of currents of air passing in and out and capable of produc- 
ing vibration, certain portions of the tract are used in mak- 
ing definite sounds whereby the animals are put into 
communication with their kind. The parts so used are the lips, 
teeth and vocal cords. The latter are membranous folds in 
the mucous lining of the larynx, which may be brought into 
such a position as to close that organ, in part, to the escaping 
current of air. The tense edges of the membrane are put into 
vibration. The resulting sound, reinforced or otherwise modi- 
fied by the other organs, is voice. Voice has considerable evolu- 
tionary significance in animals. 

356. Supplementary Exercises for Library. — Where does 
the "swim-bladder" in fishes occur? Is anything known of 
its function? Is anything like a lung known among the 
fishes? 

What are the most important differences between the ' 'voice- 
box" of mammals and that of birds? Have all the vertebrate 
groups vocal organs? Do they all have voice? What is the 
difference between voice and speech? What are the uses of 
voice to animals possessing it ? 

357. Circulation.— The blood in vertebrates contains both 
colorless and colored (red) corpuscles. The red coloring 
matter {hemoglobin) has an affinity for oxygen and thus be- 



CHORDATA 



339 



comes a vehicle for transporting it. The colored corpuscles 
have no motion of their own, but are carried by the blood cur- 
rents. The colorless cells are much less numerous than the red 
and have power of independent motion (amoeboid). The fluid 
in which the cells float is called the plasma and Garries the 
food and waste materials of the body in solution. . 

The muscular heart always consists of at least two cham- 
bers, (i) an auricle which receives blood from the veins, and 




s. v. 

Fig. 165. Diagrams of the structure of the heart in the lower Vertebrates. A, primitive con- 
dition; B, the position of the parts in the fishes, o, artery; au., auricle; c, conus arteriosus with 
valves; s.v., sinus venosus; v, valves; ve., vein; vent., ventricle. The dorsal portion of the heart is 
toward the bottom of the figure. 

Questions on the figure. — Which side of the figure represents the anterior? 
Compare the walls of the vessels. Where are the valves located? How is the 
term "sigmoid flexure" appropriate to the form in B? Notice how it results in 
what is morphologically the posterior portion of the heart becoming anterior. 
Trace the course of the flow of the blood. 



(2) a ventricle which has thick walls and propels the blood 
into the arteries. Morphologically the auricle is the posterior 
portion of the heart (Fig. 165, A), but in development the heart 
has undergone an s-shaped bending which has brought the 
auricle in front of the ventricle (Fig. 165, B). The veins and 
arteries are often specially enlarged and modified in the region 
of the heart. The main trunk leaving the heart is called the 
aorta. As the vessels extend from the heart they branch 
and become smaller and the walls become thinner. The final 



340 



ZOOLOGY 



divisions are the capillaries through the thin walls of which 
the blood exchanges materials with the tissues (Fig. 34, c.s.; 
c.r.). The capillaries unite to form the smaller veins and these 



Fig. 166. 



c. v. r. 




c. v. I. 



Fig. 166. Diagram of the heart, the branchial arches, and the principal veins In the Teleosts. 
Ventral view. The heart is represented without the sigmoid flexure; that is, with the auricfe 
posterior. The same is true of Figs. 167 to 170. c, aorta; au., auricle; br.a., branchial arches of the 
aorta (1-4, numbering from the front); c, carotid; c.v., cardinal veins (right and left); d.a., dorsal 
arteries; j, jugular veins; d.c, ductus Cuvieri; s.v., sinus venosus; v, ventricle. Only four arterial 
arches are shown. 

Questions on the figure. — Refer to the table on page 344 and identify the parts 
there described. Compare this figure with those following (Figs. 1 67-1 71). 
Compare also with Figs. 181 and 182, Ch. XX. Which is the anterior and which 
the posterior portion of this and the following figures? 

Fig. 167. Diagram of heart and branchial arches in Ceratodus (one of the Dipnoi). Position 
and lettering as in Fig. 166. a.b., air bladder (lung); p.a., pulmonary artery; p.c, post caval vein 
(right); p.v., pulmonary vein. 

Questions on the figure. — What organs appear in this diagram which are not 
present in Fig. 166? What changes of the various portions do you note in com- 
paring the two figures? 

uniting, complete the circuit back to the heart. It is evident 
that the capillaries are the most important portion of the 
system, the part for which the rest in reality exists. 



CHORDATA 



341 



In all the vertebrates there are certain structures called 
ductless glands. These are always well supplied with blood 
vessels. They seem to manufacture and to pour into the blood 



Fig. 168. 



Fig. 169. 




Fig 168. Diagram of the heart and branchial arches in Proto pterus (one of the Dipno). 
Position and lettering as in the preceding, pre.c, precaval vein, made up of right and left jugulairs 
subclavians, etc.; post.c, postcaval, made up of the cardinals, right and left. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the chief differences between the con- 
ditions here and in the preceding figures: (1) as to the heart: (2) as to arteries; (3) 
as to veins; (4) as to lungs? 



Fig. 169. 



Diagram of the heart and branchial arches in the Frog. 
I., lungs; l.a., left auricle; r.a., right auricle. 



e.g., carotid gland; 



Questions on the figure. — How does the heart differ from that of the Dipnoi? 
How many branchial arches of the aorta are shown? What evidences can you 
find by comparison that the pulmonary arch is derived from the 3d or 4th branchial? 
What evidences that the carotid and systemic are the first and second respectively ? 
Compare with the table on page 344. Is there anything to indicate that the im- 
purest blood in the heart will go to the lungs? 

directly certain secretions that have effect on. even remote parts 
of the body. These glands may properly be discussed as a 
part of the circulation since they have no other outlets. These 



342 



ZOOLOGY 



secretions are called hormones or internal secretions. The 
spleen, the thyroid, the thymus, adrenal bodies, and pituitary body, 
are the chief ductless glands. 



Fig. 170. 



Fig. 171. 



J*re. c. 




Pig. 170. Diagram of the heart and branchial arches in a Reptile. Position and lettering as in 
preceding figures, l.v., left ventricle; r.v., right ventricle. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare this with figures 166-169 and make a note 
of the differences. How much communication is there between the two sides of 
the heart? What tends to insure that the purest blood in the heart shall go to the 
head? That the least pure goes to the lungs? 

Pig. 171. Diagram of the heart and the branchial arches in Mammals. A dotted outline of 
the arches of the Fish is drawn for ready comparison. The auricles are represented in a posterior 
position, as in the preceding figures. 

Questions on the figure. — What changes in the heart are shown in this as com- 
pared with former figures? In the systemic branchial arch? Remember that the 
heart is not represented in its normal position ; the auricles are really at the anterior 
of the heart (see Fig. 166). Compare this condition with table, page 344. What 
are the grounds for believing that the auricles are, morphologically, the posterior 
part of the heart? 

The spleen is a dark body on the mesentery near the begin- 
ning of the small intestine. In its cavities old red blood cor- 



CHORDATA 343 

puscles are broken down, and probably white blood cells are 
produced. The thyroid and thymus glands are paired glands 
which are developed in the neck in relation to the embryonic 
branchial arches. The function of the thymus is obscure. 
There is iodine in the thyroid secretion. In man the disease 
or removal of the thyroid produces serious disturbances in 
development. It may produce physical degeneracy and defor- 
mity, and idiocy. 

The adrenal bodies are placed near the kidneys, as the name 
indicates. They secrete into the blood a substance known as 
adrenalin which among other things causes the muscles around 
the blood vessels to continue in a state of contraction. In 
this way the blood pressure is controlled. Removal produces 
derangement of functions and death. 

The pituitary body is in part a ventral outgrowth from the 
floor of the brain (see inf., Fig. 172, B). This fuses with tissues 
arising from the pharynx. Excess or deficiency of the secretion 
of this organ causes changes in the growth rate of certain organs 
and in a number of the metabolic processes. Removal of the 
organ in dogs causes functional disturbance and death within 
a fortnight. 

In connection with the developing and mature gonads (testes 
and ovaries) internal secretions are developed which, operating 
in connection with other endocrines, cause the normal develop- 
ment of the male and female organism. All of the distinctive 
bodily or mental qualities of males and females seem to be the 
product of these secretions. 

358. In Figs. 166 to 171 will be found diagrams of the 
circulation in the principal groups of vertebrates. It will be 
seen that there is a progressive complication of the structure, 
involving the heart, veins, and arteries, as we ascend the scale. 
These changes accompany and are partly caused by the change 
from gills to lungs. See also the accompanying table. Locate 
the vessels and trace the changes indicated by means of larger 
texts. 

359. In fishes the blood passes through the heart only once 
in making the circuit of the body. In all the air-breathing 



344 



ZOOLOGY 



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CHORD ATA 345 

forms at least a part of it returns twice, passing from the 
heart to the lung, then back to the heart, and thence to the 
system and back to the heart again. In Amphibia and reptiles 
the blood from the lung and from the system mix somewhat 
in the heart, because the partition between the right and left 
sides is not complete, but in birds and mammals the two sides 
of the heart are completely separated and the pure and impure 
blood are not allowed to mix (see Figs. 169, 170). 

360. Excretion. — We have seen that carbon dioxid, one 
of the waste products of the protoplasmic activity, is eliminated 
through the lungs and skin. Water is similarly excreted. The 
most important remaining waste (e.g., urea) contains nitrogen. 
This is taken from the blood by means of the kidneys, a pair 
of organs very complicated both as to structure and develop- 
ment. They lie near the middle line of the body at the back 
of the body cavity. Each gland represents a large number 
of nephridia or tubules similar in some respects to the seg- 
mental organs of worms (Fig. 35), but much more compli- 
cated. The kidneys are always well supplied with blood. 
In fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and birds both arteries and veins 
carry blood to the kidney; in mammals, only arteries. The 
excretion, more or less in solution in water, is poured by the 
tubules into a duct — the ureter— which may be the final outlet ; 
or the ureters may empty first into a urinary bladder, which 
has its own outlet (the urethra). 

361. Reproduction. — With certain exceptions among the 
fishes the sexes are separate in the vertebrates. In development 
the primary germ cells arise, in several groups of the vertebrates 
(probably in all), from the entoderm of the intestine (mesen- 
teron) and migrate into the germinal (mesodermal) epithelium 
to the future position of the gonads. The eggs vary in size 
from Jfoo of an inch in mammals to 5 inches (ostrich), or more 
in some extinct birds. The outlets for the ova and spermatozoa 
(oviducts and vasa deferentia) are modified portions of the embry- 
onic excretory and kidney ducts. Throughout the group there 
is a close connection between the excretory and the reproductive 
organs. The oviducts may have special glands for depositing 
nutritive or protective material about the egg before or after 



346 ZOOLOGY 

fertilization (as the albumen and shell in egg of birds). Fertil- 
ization is external in most fishes and some amphibia, and in- 
ternal in the higher groups. Naturally it must be internal in 
all forms in which large masses of food or shells come to sur- 
round the ovum proper, since the sperm could not penetrate 
these after they are once formed. Similarly internal fertilization 
would be necessary in all cases where the young are developed 
within the body of the mother. In all such there are special 
organs and special instincts that lead to the introduction of 
the sperm into the body of the female (copulation). This how- 
ever must not be confused with fertilization. The uterus is a 
special portion of the oviduct where early embryonic develop- 
ment may occur. (See Figs. 205, 206.) 

362. Development. — Those eggs which are fertilized out- 
side develop principally at the expense of the yolk of the ovum. 
Those internally fertilized may receive, after impregnation, 
additional materials for the further nourishment of the embryo, 
as above noticed for reptiles and birds. The fertilized ova 
may be retained for a longer or shorter time in the oviduct 
or in some modified portion of it (uterus, in mammals) and 
undergo development there. Where internal development is 
slight (as in birds J or absent the animals are described as ovi- 
parous; where it is considerable, as in mammals, and the young 
are free at birth they are described as viviparous. 

The table on page 347 will give some ot the facts concerning the early develop- 
ment of vertebrates. It will be found an excellent exercise for the students to 
verify the data collected in this and the preceding table (p. 344). It can readily 
be supplemented by a demonstration of figures from more advanced texts. 

363. The Muscular System. — We have seen above (§345) 
that the internal layer of the mesodermic pockets comes to be 
united with the digestive tract. This layer furnishes the non- 
striped muscle fibres of its walls. The external portion, which 
becomes associated with the ectoderm, gives rise to the muscles 
of the body- wall and those which move the skeleton. The 
fibres of these muscles are cross-striped or voluntary (Fig. 
30). It is by means of them that locomotion is effected. The 
skeletal muscles may be classed as (1) axial, and (2) appen- 
dicular. The axial are well shown in Branchiostoma (Fig. 154) 
and the fishes, where the whole body is made up of repeated 



CHORDATA 



347 



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348 ZOOLOGY 

segments (myotomes) of muscle fibres. The muscle segments 
alternate with the segments of the spinal column, as one would 
expect. The appendicular muscles are those which move the 
limbs. Their general arrangement will be seen from the study 
of the frog. In the higher vertebrates the segmentation of the 
axial muscles becomes less conspicuous especially in the head 
region, and the appendicular muscles become relatively of 
greater importance because of the greater use of the appendages. 
The muscles associated with the entoderm are unstriate and not 
under conscious control. 

364. The Nervous System. — The nervous system in verte- 
brates consists of two portions, the central and peripheral 
The central nervous part embraces the deep-seated organs, the 
brain and spinal cord. From these organs the cell-processes or 
fibres pass to the various tissues of the body, terminating in a 
manner appropriate to the special case whether it be a muscle, 
sense organ, or gland. These nerves and their endings consti- 
tute the peripheral part of the system. 

365. The Central Organs.' — The central nervous system origi- 
nates from the ectoderm as a longitudinal groove-like depres- 
sion in the mid-dorsal line of the embryo. The union of the 
edges of this fold produces a tube and an overgrowth of the 
ectoderm separates it from the outside world (Fig. 156). It 
becomes surrounded by mesodermal elements (bone and con- 
nective tissue, Fig. 158), and itself undergoes numerous and 
complex changes. At the anterior end of the tube occur three 
distinct enlargements (Fig. 172, A). These are known as the 
primary vesicles of the brain, and by the later growth and 
differentiation of their walls they give rise to the five brain- 
regions of the adult. The brain must be considered merely as 
the specially modified anterior portion of the spinal cord. 

Three sets of changes occur in the development of the adult 
vertebrate brain from this primitive condition: 

i . The axis becomes more or less curved, the concavity being 
ventral. 

2. Out-pocketings of the walls occur, in special regions, 
whose cavities (ventricles) retain connection with the central 
cavity {e.g., the hemispheres). See Fig. 172, h, tel. 



CHORDATA 
Fig. 172 



349 




n 
tel 



th. 



op. cer. med. 

I 1 

mes. met. my. 



Fig. 172. Diagrams of the brain in Vertebrates, howing the primitive regions a d their chief 
modifications. A, early stages, showing the anterior enlargement in three lobes: I, II, and III, the 
primary vesicles. B, a sagittal section, showing the more fundamental modifications of the walls 
of the primary vesicles. C, frontal section of same. D, lateral view of the brain of the Prog. The 
vertical lines indicate corresponding points in the different diagrams. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are the ven- 
tricles of the brain, c.c, crura cerebri; cer., cerebellum (hind brain); h, hemispheres (cerebrum or 
fore brain); inf., infundibulum; med., medulla oblongata; mes., mesencephalon or mid brain; met., 
metencephalon or hind brain; my., myencephalon or medulla; n 1 , olfactory nerve; n*, optic nerve; 
ol., olfactory lobe; op., optic lobes; o.th., optic thalamus; p.v., pons Varolii; s.c, spinal cord; tel., 
telencephalon or fore brain; th., thalamencephalon or "between" brain. 



35° 



ZOOLOGY 



Questions on the figures. — What portions of the adult brain are produced 
from each of the three primary lobes? Where are the principal outgrowths, 
thickenings and thin portions of the wall? In comparison with figure D what 
portions of the brain become highly developed in the higher Vertebrates? Make 
a diagram based on D, which will show the general relation of these parts in man. 
Compare the diagrams with the table on page 349, and verify the statements there. 

3. Thickenings or thinnings of the roof, sides, or floor of 
the tube may produce lobes and affect the size of the cavity of 
the tube. The accompanying diagrams and table will furnish 
an outline from which the student may pursue the details some- 
what further. 

Fig. 173. 




Fig. 173. Diagram of head and brain of human foetus six weeks old (heavy boundaries). The 
dotted line indicates the outline of the brain of a foetus three months old. Note the great growth 
of the hemisphere (h). cer, cerebellum; med, medulla oblongata; mes, mesencephalon; p, pituitary 
body; pr, prosencephalon; s.c, spinal cord; th, thalamencephalon; 1, olfactory nerve; 2, optic nerve. 
Compare with Fig. 172. 

Questions on the figure. — Locate point by point the corresponding regions in 
the diagrams in Fig. 172. What are the chief points of modification? Note par- 
ticularly the great flexures of the organ. Where is the cerebellum of the older 
embryo? What is the nature of the pituitary body in the adult? 

These diagrams (Fig. 172) do not give the exact proportions 
between the various parts of the vertebrate brain. The student 
is urged to examine figures less diagrammatic in their nature in 
the larger texts. See, Fig. 173; also, Edinger: "Anatomy of 



CHORD ATA 



351 



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352 



ZOOLOGY 



the Central Nervous System in Man and Vertebrates," Figs. 21, 
107-112. 

366. That portion of the central nervous system not enclosed 
in the skull is called the spinal cord. It is surrounded and pro- 
tected by the dorsal arches of the vertebrae. The cord is nearly 
circular in cross section, is somewhat enlarged in the regions of 
the appendages, tapers toward the posterior end and is divided 
into symmetrical right and left lobes by a dorsal and a ventral 
longitudinal groove (see Fig. 174, d.f., v.f,). It possesses a cen- 




Fig. 174. Diagram of a cross-section of the spinal cord through the roots of spinal nerves. 
Drawn by Folsom. c, central canal; d.f., dorsal fissure; d.r., dorsal root of spinal nerve arising from 
the dorsal horn of the gray matter (g) ; gn., ganglion on the dorsal root; n, spinal nerve; v.f., ventral 
fissure; v.r., ventral root of the spinal nerve, arising from the ventral horn of the gray matter; w., 
white matter. (The dorsal fissure in the diagram is broader than it should be.) 

Questions on the figure. — What is the structural difference between the white 
and gray matter in the cord? Describe their arrangement. How are the two 
halves of the cord united? Which are sensory and which motor roots? What 
structural differences do you notice in the roots? 

tral canal continuous with the cavities of the brain. The outer 
part of the cord (Fig. 174, w.) is composed of the white matter 
(longitudinal nerve fibres) and the interior portion, of gray 
matter (a mixture of nerve-cells and fibres). This is somewhat 
the reverse of the condition found in the brain. 

367. Peripheral Nervous System — Spinal Nerves. — Groups 
of nerve fibres spring from the gray matter of the cord and pass 
to the organs of the body. These nerves arise in pairs — one 
pair to each body segment — and pass out between the vertebrae. 
Each nerve has two "roots," a dorsal and a ventral, from each 
of which some of its fibres come (Fig. 174, d.r., v.r,). The roots 



CHORD ATA 353 

differ in appearance in that the dorsal has an enlargement 
(ganglion) containing nerve cells; the ventral has none. The 
fibres from these two roots combine to form the nerve, but each 
fibre remains independent throughout. It is known by experi- 
ment that the fibres of the dorsal root carry impulses toward the 
spinal cord (''sensory") and those of the ventral root carry 
impulses from the cord ("motor"). In certain regions the 
nerves springing from successive segments of the body may have 
numerous interlacing fibres, forming what is known as a plexus. 

368. Cranial Nerves. — Those nerves arising from the brain, 
that is, inside the cranium, are called cranial nerves. There 
are ten to twelve pairs of these, but they are not of equal mor- 
phological value, nor are they strictly equivalent to the spinal 
nerves. Some have dorsal and ventral roots, but a much larger 
number have only one group of roots, either dorsal or ventral. 
Some are purely sensory nerves, some are motor, and some are 
mixed. How these nerves are related to the segments of which 
the head is believed to be composed is yet an unsettled question. 

The first or olfactory pair arises from the olfactory lobe of the fore-brain; its 
fibres, which are purely sensory, are distributed to the lining of the nose, the end 
organ of smell. 

The second or optic nerve arises from the second division of the brain (thalam- 
encephalon), consists of purely sensory fibres, and is distributed to the retina 
of the eye, the end organ of vision. 

The third, fourth, and sixth pairs are purely motor and are distributed to the 
muscles of the eye. The third and fourth arise from the third division of the brain 
(mesencephalon). The sixth nerve arises from the medulla, as do the following. 

The fifth (trigeminal) comes from the anterior portion of the medulla (hind- 
brain) and, like the spinal nerves, has both dorsal and ventral roots. It is largely 
sensory, supplying the skin of the face, mouth and tongue. Motor fibres pass to 
the muscles of the jaw. 

The seventh (facial) is largely motor, is distributed chiefly to the muscles of the 
face and controls facial expression. 

The eighth or auditory is sensory, and is distributed to the inner ear, the end 
organ of hearing and of equilibration. 

The ninth or glossopharyngeal is a mixed nerve and is distributed to the muscles 
and mucous membrane of the pharynx and to the tongue. 

The tenth or vagus arises by numerous roots, has both motor and sensory fibres, 
and is the most widely distributed nerve in the body. Its fibres pass to the pos- 
terior visceral arches, lungs, heart, stomach and intestines. 

We find the cranial nerves and their nerve endings concerned chiefly with the 
higher senses, the muscles of expression, and the sensations and activities involved 
in the fundamental processes of nutrition. 
23 



354 ZOOLOGY 

369. The Sympathetic System which is always distributed to the visceral 
organs is made up of a series of connected ganglia in the dorsal part of the body 
cavity. This system is in connection at various places with the central nervous 
system. It serves to connect the internal organs more intimately, and is reflex in 
its action. 

370. The Special Senses. — The sense organs represent 
specialized terminations of the nerve fibres, or special epithelial 
cells which have become associated with such fibres (Fig. 43). 
From the very nature of the case they must be external. In the 
case of higher animals, the more complicated sense-organs are 
removed from the surface and are much modified, but the 
essential sensory portion is similar in all, and they retain some 
suitable connection with the outside. It is usually these ac- 
cessory structures which transmit the stimuli to the nerves that 
render the sense organ so complicated. 

371. The Skin Senses. — Scattered over the body of many 
forms of animals are single cells, or groups of cells, or free nerve 
endings, which are for the reception of contact and temperature 
stimuli. These are not equally numerous or well developed in 
all parts of the body. They are often especially developed in 
connection with hairs. In the lower aquatic vertebrates, espe- 
cially the fishes, groups of such sensory cells occur in pits or 
longitudinal grooves along the sides. These are called the or- 
gans of the lateral line. Their exact function is still in some 
doubt. It is thought that they may possibly assist in the recog- 
nition of slow vibrations in water. 

372. The Chemical Senses — Taste and Smell. — The chem- 
ical senses involve close contact and a chemical union between 
the substance to be perceived and the organ itself. For that 
reason the substance must be capable of solution in the fluids 
that moisten the surfaces. In vertebrates these organs are 
located at the anterior end of the body and usually within special 
pits or cavities. The taste organs are in the mouth, especially 
on the tongue and soft palate. In some animals the sense is 
poorly developed. The end organs of the sense of smell are 
located in pits (nose), anterior or dorsal to the mouth, lined 
with folds of the mucous epithelium. In most fishes these pits 



CHORD ATA 355 

are not connected with the pharynx, but in all air-breathing 
forms there is such connection, and the nostrils constitute the 
normal inlet for air to enter the lungs. The sense of smell is 
much more developed in the air-breathing vertebrates, if indeed 
it can be said to exist at all in the aquatic animals. It is not 
always easy to distinguish between smell and taste. The ol- 
factory organs are more sensitive than those of taste. At any 
rate smaller particles of the stimulating substances will arouse 
the sense of smell than will serve to arouse taste. This makes it 
true that smell is useful to detect chemical conditions at a greater 
distance than is possible in taste. 

373. The Ear. — There is a single pair of ears in verte- 
brates, and these are located at the sides of the head behind the 
eyes. The essential sensory portion of the ear (internal ear) 
arises as an in-pocketing of ectoderm, and consists of a closed, 
fluid-filled membranous sac which is surrounded by meso- 
dermal structures — often solid bone. Ordinarily this sac is con- 
stricted, being thus partially separated into two irregular cham- 
bers, the dorsal (utriculus) and the ventral (sacculus). From 
the former arise three semicircular canals which are supplied 
with sensory hair-cells in the epithelial lining and are looked 
upon as being an organ to assist in detecting direction of motion 
and maintaining balance or equilibrium. From the sacculus 
arises an outgrowth, the cochlea, which in higher forms is well 
developed. It becomes spiral, and is well supplied with sensory 
cells. It is regarded as the chief auditory organ in those forms 
possessing it. This membranous sac or labyrinth is completely 
surrounded by cartilage or bone in fishes. There is no external 
ear. In forms above the fishes a membrane (tympanic mem- 
brane) stops up the spiracle and incloses what is known as the 
middle ear, which still communicates with the mouth by the 
Eustachian canal. A bridge of minute bones is also formed 
from the tympanic membrane across the middle ear whereby 
the external vibrations can be communicated to the internal ear. 
In addition to this, particularly among the mammals, is found 
an external tube leading to the tympanic membrane. Ex- 
panded folds of skin supported by cartilage form a funnel to 



356 ZOOLOGY 

catch the waves. The tube (external auditory meatus) and the 
funnel or pinna constitute the external ear. 

374. The Eye. — The eyes of vertebrates are a single pair of 
organs lying imbedded in an orbit of cartilage or bone, within 
which they have considerable freedom of motion. Six muscles, 

Fig. 175. 




Fig. 175. Diagrammatic horizontal section through the right eye of Man. The line a p is the 
axis of vision. The optic nerve leaves the eye on the median side of this line, a.c, central artery; 
a.h., aqueous humor; &., blind spot, the entrance of the optic nerve; c, conjunctiva; ch., choroid 
layer of the eyeball; c.l., crystalline lens; c.m.c, circular fibres of the ciliary muscles; c.m.r., radial 
fibres of the ciliary muscles; co., cornea, the transparent portion of the sclerotic; c.p., ciliary process; 
c.s., canal of Schlemm, a lymphatic vessel; fo., fovea centralis, the point of clearest vision; o.n., 
optic nerve; o.s., ora serrata, the anterior wavy margin of the visual portion of the retina; r, the 
retinal layer; sc, sclerotic layer; sh., sheath of the optic nerve; v.h., vitreous humor. 

Questions on the figure. — Which is the essential sensory portion of the eye? 
Which parts are concerned in bringing the rays of light to a focus? How many 
refractive surfaces are present? How many refractive media? Which portions 
of the eye are primarily protective and supportive? What is the function of the 
various parts of the choroid layer? In what way is an image formed on the retina, 
of objects in front of the lens? 

four straight (rectus) and two oblique, serve to move the eyeball. 
These muscles receive the third, fourth, and sixth of the cranial 
nerves. In the higher forms muscular folds of the skin serve 
to protect the eye in front. The upper and lower lids act 
vertically, but the third (nictitating membrane) works from the 



CHORDATA 



357 



inner angle of the eye outward. Sometimes all three lids are 
present together. In the lower groups the lids are wanting. 

The essential part of the eye is the sensory expansion of the 
optic nerve — the retina — which occupies the innermost posi- 




Fig. 176. Diagram showing some of the retinal elements in their relations to each other. 
Layer 1 is directed toward the interior of the eye and consists of nerve fibres (/) which finally enter 
the optic nerve at the blind spot; 2, the ganglion-cell layer, made up of the nerve cells of which the 
fibres are a part; 3. the inner "molecular layer" made up of the fine, much-branched nerve fibrils 
from 2 and 4; 4, the inner nuclear layer, containing numerous ganglion cells (g) ; 5, the outer "mo- 
lecular layer," similar in structure to 3; 6, outer nuclear layer, containing the nuclei of the rod and 
cone cells {r.c. and c.c.)', 7, the layer of rods and cones (r, c). This is the nervous epithelium, or 
the nerve-endings of vision. The rods and cones are partly imbedded in a pigment epithelium (8). 
It must be remembered that hundreds of elements are omitted where one is shown in the figure. 

Questions on the figure. — From what direction would the light come in this 
figure? Which portion of the retina does the light first strike on entering the eye? 
To what point must it penetrate to arouse nervous activity? Over what route 
must a nervous impulse pass to reach the brain from the point of stimulation (rods 
and cones) ? Compare with similar figures in other texts. 



tion, bounding the posterior portion of the cavity of the eyeball- 
This is a very complicated layer, but a general idea of it can be 
obtained from the diagram (Fig. 176). The layer of rods and 
cones, in close connection with a layer of pigment, is the sensi- 



358 ZOOLOGY 

tive layer. Light falling directly on this from all directions 
would produce no image, just as the photographic plate exposed 
outside the camera would present a general blur. We find then 
the necessity of the same optical devices as are found in the 
camera: (i) a sensitive surface, the retina; (2) a box for sup- 
port and for keeping out the light except from one direction, 
the opaque layers of the ball of the eye; (3) an aperture for the 
passage of the light into the interior of the box, the pupil and 
the transparent cornea overlying it; and especially (4) a lens 
or series of refracting surfaces which cause all the rays of light 
coming to the eye from each external point to be brought to- 
gether again beyond the lens at a corresponding point on the 
sensitive surface. The elementary relations of these parts 
as found in the eyes of vertebrates may be gathered from a 
study of Fig. 175. 

Accommodation of the eye to objects at different distances 
is effected by means of changes in the shape of the lens through 
the action of appropriate muscles. 

375. Library Exercise. — What portions of the vertebrate 
eye are derived directly from the ectoderm ? Which from the 
brain (i.e., indirectly from ectoderm) ? Which from meso- 
derm? (See Fig. 45.) 

What variation occurs among vertebrates as to the condi- 
tion of the bones in the middle ear? Whence are they con- 
sidered to be derived ? What variation in the cochlea ? Study 
from figures the structure of the cochlea. 

376. Classification. — The principal divisions of the sub- 
phylum Vertebrata are : 

Class I. Pisces (e.g., sharks, lung-fishes, bony fishes). 
Page 359. 

Class II. Amphibia (frogs, toads, salamanders, etc.). Page 
376. 

Class III. Reptilia (crocodiles, lizards, snakes, turtles). 
Page 385. 

Class IV. Aves (birds). Page 399. 

Class V. Mammalia (mammals). Page 438. 



CHAPTER XX 

CLASS PISCES 

377. The class of fishes, representatives of which are famil- 
iar to all, is important not only from the point of view of its 
specialized present-day representatives but from the fact that 
it was the first successful vertebrate group of geological times. 
It represents the primitive aquatic habit from which the land- 
inhabiting types of vertebrates must have arisen, and in it 
we find the fundamental plan of structure which has been 
modified in the higher forms (as the Amphibia) in adaptation 
to their present mode of life. It must of course be borne in 
mind that the types of fishes which are supposed to be the 
ancestors of the air-breathing vertebrates were much less 
specialized in structure than the present members of the class. 
There are, however, even now some of the fishes which have 
changed less than the majority, from the primitive condition. 

378. General Characteristics. — 

1. Aquatic vertebrates having gills functional throughout 
life. Gills consisting of filaments or sheets, containing blood- 
vessels and attached to bony or cartilaginous arches in the region 
of the pharynx. 

2. Paired appendages (pectoral and pelvic) normally fin- 
like, — not having a median jointed axis as in the limbs of the 
higher vertebrates. Medial fins dorsal, ventral, and caudal, 
the latter being the chief organ of locomotion. 

3. There is usually a dermal skeleton consisting of scales, 
covered with epidermis. The latter may deposit enamel on 
the dermal core of the scale. 

4. Heart two-chambered containing systemic (impure) blood. 

5. Vertebral column either cartilaginous or bony; the verte- 
brae biconcave. 

359 



360 ZOOLOGY 

6. No true (allantoic, see Fig. 108, at.) urinary bladder. 

7. A longitudinal line of sense organs ("organs of the lateral 
line") on each side of the body. 

8. Nasal pit not (usually) communicating posteriorly with 
the mouth. 

9. Fertilization and development usually occurring outside 
the body. 

379. Form. — Fishes usually have a body somewhat flattened 
from side to side, though it may be quite cylindrical or flat- 
tened dorso-ventrally, and gradually tapering toward either 
end. This is readily seen to be a form well suited to motion 
through water. Those which enter crevices under rocks or 
elsewhere, as eels and catfish, are cylindrical. Some types are 
extremely freakish in form, as the spherical globe fish, angler- 
fish which is chiefly head, the strange hammer-headed shark, 
the pointed gar-pike and sword-fish, and the* seahorse. 

The head end, while not so specialized as in the higher forms, 
is much more cephalized than in the Protovertebrata. The 
mouth with its modifications of movable jaws, teeth, etc., the 
respiratory arches, the sense organs of sight, hearing, taste, 
and possibly smell, the brain and brain case all enter into this 
cephalization. 

There is no neck, i.e., the head is not movable with refer- 
ence to the body. The length of the body varies very greatly 
as does the number of metameres embraced. The body may 
be' distinguished as pre-caudal and caudal. 

380. Appendages. — Fishes possess two classes of append- 
ages — paired, or lateral, and median. These are expansions 
of the skin supported by rays of bone or cartilage. The paired 
fins are four in number and are considered to be homologous 
with the pectoral and pelvic appendages of the higher verte- 
brates. They differ much as to their position, especially the 
posterior pair, as may be seen by a comparison of the figures in 
this chapter. In its typical condition the appendage consists 
of girdle and the fin proper. In the lung-fishes there is a central 
axis (Fig. 177) through the fin, instead of the usual radiate 
arrangement (Fig. 178, f.r.) of the fin-rays. The legs of higher 



PISCES 



361 



vertebrates are supposed to have been derived trom this type 
the archipterygium) . 

Fig. 177. 




Fig. 177. Diagram of the anterior fin (archipterygium) of Ceratodus. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the chief points of contrast between this 
fin and that of Teleosts, figured in Fig. 178? How does Gegenbauer consider that 
this might give rise to the simpler type of Vertebrate legs? 

Fig. 178. 




Fig. 178. Pectoral girdle and fin of a Teleost. br.o., branchial ossicles; c, coracoid; cl., 
clavicle; f.r., fin rays; p.cl., post clavicle; p.t., post temporal which unites with skull; sc, 
scapula; s.cl., supra-clavicle. By Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — Which girdle is this, right or left? Do authors 
regard any of these bones as homologous with similarly named bones in the higher 
Vertebrates ? 



The median fins consist of one or more dorsal portions which 
vary in extent, a caudal portion, and a ventral part near the 



362 



ZOOLOGY 



anus. These may represent remnants of a continuous median 
fin such as is seen in Br anchio stoma (Fig. 154). They are sup- 
ported by fin-rays in the dermal fold, which are in turn sup- 
ported by spines imbedded in the muscles. The form of the 
caudal fin, which is much used in locomotion, differs widely. 

Fig. 179. 




Fig. 179. Diagrams of some principal forms of tails in fishes. A, protocercal fin (as in Poly p- 
erus) ; B, heterocercal (as in Sharks) ; C, homocercal (as in most Teleosts) ; D, homocercal (as in 
Amia). By Folsom. 

Questions on the figures. — What is the essential difference between the sym- 
metry of D and of A ? What conceivable advantage has the symmetrical over the 
unsymmetrical type? Are the heterocercal types successful swimmers? 



These differences, correlated with modifications of the end of 
the vertebral column, have considerable importance in subdivid- 
ing the class. The following types may be noted: 

1. The vertebral column passes straight to the end of the 
tail and the fin-rays are disposed symmetrically with regard 
thereto {protocercal) ; found in lung-fishes and some primitive 
extinct forms (Fig. 179, A). 

2. The vertebral column is bent dorsad, and a small fin lobe 
develops from its ventral side. The tail, though two-pronged, 
is not symmetrical (heterocercal). Found in sharks and many 
ganoids (Fig. 179, B). 

3. The vertebral column may become still more bent and 



PISCES 363 

reduced; the ventral lobe develops until the whole structure 

appears symmetrical again (Jkomocercal). Found in bony fishes 

(Fig. 179, C, D). 

Fig. 180. 




Fig. 180. Skull of Cod (Gadus morrhua). From Nicholson, after Owen, b, branchiostegal 
rays borne on c.h., the ceratohyal bone; d, dentary portion of the mandible;/, frontal; h.m„ hyoman- 
dibular; i.o., interoperculum; I, lachrymal; m, maxilla; n, nasal; o, operculum; p.m., premaxilla; 
p.o., preoperculum; p.s., parasphenoid; q, quadrate; s.o., sub-operculum; s.oc, supra-occipital. 

Questions on the figure. — What is the operculum? How many bones are 
associated to form it? Which bones are figured as bearing teeth? Which of 
these bones belong to the cranium proper ? What is the difference between cranium 
and skull? What do authors believe to be the origin and homology of the chief 
facial bones? 

381. Covering. — Most fishes are more or less covered by 
scales or scutes developed in the dermis and lying between the 
dermis and epidermis. The scales often receive a layer of 
enamel from the epidermis. In form they may be cycloid 
(round, with smooth margin), ctenoid (toothed margin), placoid 
(plate-like bodies often bearing points covered with enamel), 
and ganoid (thick rhomboid scales covered over with enamel, 
and often closely articulated into a coat-of-armor) . The scales 
are usually placed as shingles are on a roof, and doubtless pro- 
tect the fish from mechanical injuries. A good many species 
of fishes are destitute of scales altogether, the skin of such often 
being supplied with numerous mucous glands. In many ex- 
tinct forms the external covering was made up of large plates 
fused into a dense armor. 



364 ZOOLOGY 

382. The Skull. — The skull in fishes is especially note- 
worthy for the looseness of the connection between the facial 
bones (i.e., the visceral or branchial arches) and the cranium. 
They are readily separated from the cranium. The lower jaw 
is not articulated directly with the brain-case but with the upper 
jaw (see Fig, 180, q). 

383. Locomotion. — Fishes are aquatic and are complete 
masters of their medium. The density of water as compared 
with air makes the matter of support in the medium much 
easier for the fish than for the bird. The denser medium is how- 
ever more difficult to penetrate. The specific gravity of the 
fish as a whole does not widely differ from that of water, although 
it varies within narrow limits. Four problems are thus pre- 
sented to the fish for solution : 

1. The Regulation of Specific Gravity.— It is thought that 
this is effected in part at least by the air bladder. The body 
muscles may bring about the compression of the contained gas 
and thus decrease the size without change of weight.. The air 
bladder may aid in the recognition of changes in pressure due 
to differences in depth. 

2. Propulsion. — The chief organ of propulsion is the caudal 
fin, acted on by the powerful lateral muscles of the body. The 
resultant of the alternate strokes against the water is forward 
motion. This may be supplemented by the action of the paired 
fins, especially in slow motion. 

3. Steering. — This is accomplished in part by the changes 
in specific gravity and the regulation of the stroke of the tail, and 
in part by the action of the paired fins. The semicircular canals 
probably assist the animal in appreciating changes in its posi- 
tion, — its orientation, thus enabling it to choose its direction. 

4. Balancing. — Since most fishes are flattened from right to 
left there is some difficulty in keeping an upright position. The 
sense of position is doubtless given by the semicircular canals. 
The paired fins are used in balancing, as are the dorsal and anal. 
Doubtless all the fins along the body of the fish are used some- 
what as the keel of a boat or the planes of an air ship or a 
submarine. 



PISCES 



365 



c.v.r* 




c.v.l„ 



Fig. 181. Diagram of the principal vessels in the circulation of a fish, — ventral view. a v 
aorta; at*., auricle; br.a., afferent branchial arteries; br.e., efferent branchial arteries; bu., bulbus 
(or conus) arteriosus; c, carotid; c.a., caudal artery; c.v.r., right cardinal vein; c.v.l., left cardinal 
vein; d.a., dorsal artery; d.c, ductus Cuvieri; g, gills; h.v., hepatic vein; h.p. , hepatic portal vein; *, 
intestine; j, jugular vein; k, kidney; /, liver; r.p., renal portal vein; s.v., sinus venosus; v, ventricle. 

Questions on the figure. — Follow the general course of the circulation, noting 
changes in the character of the blood in various capillary regions. What is the 
extent of the hepatic portal system? Of the renal portal? Where is the purest 
blood in the body? Reason for your answer? What do you mean by " impure " 
blood? Where are the chief impurities removed from the circulation? 



3^6 



ZOOLOGY 



384. Supplementary Exercise for the Library. — What is the structure and 
position of the "swim-" or air-bladder in fishes? With what organ is it related? 
Does it communicate with the outside? Are there any evidences that it is of 
value as a respiratory organ in any of the fishes? Can you conceive any use it 
might be in steering, for the purpose of rising or sinking in the water? What 
would be the effect of compressing the air-bladder at one end more than at the 
other? 

385. The Circulation. — Little needs be said here in addition 
to what has been said in the general discussion of the vertebrate 
circulation (see Figs. 1 66-1 71). The heart is two-chambered. 
The auricle receives the venous blood from the system; it is 
passed to the ventricle through a valve which forbids its passage 
in the reverse direction. From the ventricle the blood passes 
through a valvular region into the ventral aorta, which carries it, 
by a series of right and left branches, to the gills. Here aeration 



Fig. 182. 



cut 




Fig. 182. Diagram of the principal vessels in the circulation of a Fish, — lateral view. Lettering 
as in the preceding figure. Adapted from Parker and Haswell. 

Questions on the figure. — Compare the two views (Figs. 181 and 182) and 
identify the parts common to both, tracing the course of the circulation in the 
various vessels. 



takes place, the pure blood being gathered from the gills by a 
series of efferent branches which combine (except some anterior 
branches which go to the head) to form a dorsal aorta. The 
dorsal aorta gives off branches to the body wall, to the paired 
appendages, to the liver, digestive tract and kidneys, — con- 
tinuing into the tail where it breaks up in the muscles. 

The impure blood from the capillaries of the tail is brought 
back to the kidneys by the renal portal vein, where it again 
passes through capillaries; here the blood is purified of its urea 



PISCES 367 

and similar impurities. The blood supplied direct to the kid- 
neys from the aorta and that of the renal-portal circulation is 
returned to the heart by way of right and left {cardinal) veins 
which join corresponding right and left veins {jugular) from the 
head to form the veins {ductus Cuvieri) which empty into the 
auricle. The blood which was distributed to the stomach and 
intestines is gathered into a vessel {hepatic portal vein) which 
carries it to the liver, together with much of the food absorbed 
from the intestines. The hepatic portal vein here breaks up 
into capillaries. The blood from the liver and from the appen- 
dages unites with that carried by the ductus Cuvieri before it 
reaches the heart. The student should carefully follow out the 
course of the circulation in the accompanying diagrams (Figs. 
181, 182) and determine just what changes take place in the 
blood in the various capillaries through which it passes. Varia- 
tions from this typical condition are numerous, accounts of 
which must be sought in more extended texts. 

386. Library Exercise. — Find description and figures in the reference zoologies 
locating the unfamiliar structures in circulation of fishes in the table on page 344 
and testing the statements found there. 

387. Habits and Food. — Fishes occur abundantly both in 
fresh and salt water. Usually the whole life is spent under the 
same general conditions. The salmon and shad, however, are 
bred and partly develop in fresh water and later pass out to the 
sea. These forms return, often with remarkable precision, to 
the place of their own hatching to deposit their eggs. Use is 
made of this habit in the capture of them for commercial pur- 
poses. Unless some means are found for limiting the destruc- 
tion of the adults during the breeding period, some of our most 
valuable food fishes are in danger of extermination. Others, as 
the eels, may generate in the sea and spend a part or all their 
adult life in fresh water. Some burrow in the muddy bottoms, 
as the eel, cat-fish, mud-fish; others lie on the bottom, as the 
flat-fish; many quaint forms frequent the depths of the sea. 
The most are active swimmers in open water near or away from 
the shore. Many forms (herring, shad, salmon, etc.), are dis- 
tinctly gregarious, moving in great shoals especially at spawning 



368 ZOOLOGY 

time or when in search of food. This fact and the knowledge 
of places and times are matters of much moment to the fisher- 
men. The food of fishes is very diverse. Some forms are ac- 
tively carnivorous, preying on animals as large or larger than 
themselves (sharks) ; others, and these are the most numerous 
class, depend upon small animals such as the young of their own 
or other species of fish, on Crustacea, insects and worms. . The 
microscopic animals and plants occurring in immense numbers 
in the water are important items in the food of fishes. Some 
fishes are scavengers, living largely upon the dead materials 
found in the water. Fishes differ much in their energy, courage, 
and resistance to attack. Those possessing these qualities in 
high degree are denominated "game" fish and are prized for the 
difficulty involved in their capture. The family of the trout 
and salmon includes several such species. 

The deep sea habit results in most interesting adaptations. 
The conditions of life are different from anything we know. 
Light is absent, the temperature invariable and not far above 
freezing point, the pressure is something enormous. Many of 
the fishes are luminescent. Sometimes these luminous organs 
seem arranged to attract the prey. Some forms have very 
large eyes to use this weak light ; others are blind as are some of 
the cave fishes. The sense of touch is greatly developed. In 
form they are very varied and bizarre. 

.388. Economic Value.— From primitive times fish has been 
one of the important human foods. Probably a larger percent- 
age of the well-known species of fishes are regarded as edible 
than of any other animal group. Their rate of multiplying 
and their occurrence in schools at available points are quite as 
important factors as the delicacy of the flesh in determining the 
food value of a species. The improved devices for capturing 
fish, the development of methods of preserving them by drying 
and by canning, and the increased price of other food substances 
for which fish may be substituted have all conspired to increase 
the destruction of the more important edible fish both in the 
fresh and salt waters. In recognition of this, most nations have 
appointed commissions for the study of problems connected with 



PISCES 



369 



the fisheries and for the better regulation of the same. The 
United States Fish Commission in conjunction with similar 
state boards, has done an immeasurable amount of good espe- 

Fig. 183. 




Fig. 183. Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). From the "Manual of Fish Culture," U. S. F. C. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the names of the various fins shown in the 
figure? What is the dotted line along the side of the fish? What type of tail 
has this fish? 



Fig. 184. 




Fig. 184. Brook Trout (Salvelinusfontinalis). From "Manual of Fish Culture," U. S. F. C. 

cially in the following particulars : 

1. In taking the spawn of our most important food fishes 
and caring for it artificially during the period of early develop- 
ment when the young animals are in the greatest danger of 
24 



370 ZOOLOGY 

destruction. Such fish hatcheries are scattered all over the 
Union and many of our fresh waters are being restocked with 
species believed to be hardy and suitable for food. 

2. By determining the foods preferred by special fish and 
artificially encouraging its abundance. 

3 . By encouraging the destruction of species of animals that 
prey upon the food fishes, and by the study of fish diseases pro- 
duced by plant and animal parasites. 

4. By studying the habits of the fishes and by regulation of 
the time, place and manner of catching. 

The money value of the annual catch of fish in our waters 
cannot well be less than $50,000,000. The most valuable fresh- 
water forms are the lake trout, white fish, cat fish, bass, perches, 
suckers. The chief marine species are cod, haddock, halibut, 
mackerel, menhaden, herring, and salmon. The latter, though 
marine, is caught in fresh waters in its breeding migrations. 

There are numerous species of fish which are destructive to 
the food fishes, by devouring the young or in other ways. 
Among these are the gar-pike, pickerel, muscalonge, German 
carp, the dogfish and other sharks. 

389. Supplementary Exercises for the Library. 

1 . Make a report concerning the principal food fishes used by the people of the 
United States: their habits and geographical range, the mode of their capture and 
putting on the market. 

2. Make a study of the methods of capturing fish from primitive time to the 
present and show how the methods have been adapted to the habits of the fish. . 

3. A study of the history and work of the United States Fish Commission as 
shown in the annual reports and bulletins. Its economic side. Its scientific side. 

390. Reproduction and Development. — The sexes are sepa- 
rate. The sexual elements are produced in great numbers. 
The ova {spawn) are usually deposited in the water, in shallows 
on the open bottom, under rocks, or in places specially provided 
for them by the parents. The sperm (milt) is poured over these 
by the male, and the fertilization and later development take 
place in the water usually with little or no care on the part of 
the parents. Great loss of life occurs among the young from 
the voracious habits of other species and sometimes of the 
parents themselves. It is not difficult to believe that the enor- 
mous number of eggs produced by the female is an adaptation ' 



PISCES 371 

to meet this risk of mortality among the young. In some cases 
(most sharks and a few bony-fishes) the eggs are fertilized and 
the young hatched within the body of the mother. Only a few 
young are produced in such forms. 

The eggs of fishes are usually well supplied with yolk, seg- 
mentation being partial (discoidal, see §53). The unsegmented 
portion comes to be surrounded by a yolk sac and furnishes 
nourishment for the early stages of development. 




v 






Fig. 185. The Smelt (Osmerus dentex). Bull. U. S. Fish Commission. 

391. Special Adaptations. — In addition to those already 
mentioned the group of fishes shows many adaptations to special 
modes of life. 

Color. — Most fishes show color as the result of pigment 
in the cells of the skin, or of delicate markings on the scales. 
In general, the tone of color tends to accord with the environ- 
ment. This becomes very striking in some of the less active 
forms, as the flounders, in which the colors may change more or 
less rapidly to accord with the bottom on which they lie. It 
seems probable that some degree of protection from enemies 
may thus be gained, which would be of distinct value to the 
species. In some cases, however, the color is in sharp contrast 
with the environment, and may be very conspicuous. This is 
believed to be a warning coloration in some instances, accom- 
panying some disagreeable quality. Some deep-sea forms are 
luminescent. This is probably of considerable importance, as 
no sunlight penetrates to that depth. 

Electrical Organs. — In several groups of fishes (rays, eels, etc.), 
certain muscular tracts have become so modified that under 
nervous stimulus instead of producing motion by contraction 



372 



ZOOLOGY 



they form and accumulate electrical energy which may be dis- 
charged at the will of the animal. This power certainly has a 
protective value, as the discharge is in some eases powerful 
enough to paralyze much larger animals than the fish itself. It 
is probably useful also in capturing prey. 

Fxg. 186. 




Fig. if 



Young Sea-bass (Centropristis striatus). Photo from life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 



Question on the figure. — Locate the pelvic fin and compare with other fish as to 
position. 



Asymmetry. — In the flat-fishes we find a Very striking com- 
pression from side to side. In early life they have the position 
normal to other fish, but in the adult stage they re.st and swim 
with the dorso-ventral plane horizontal instead of vertical — on 
the left side in some species and on the right in others. The side 
that is uppermost becomes pigmented like the back, and the. 
under side loses its pigment and becomes white, as the belly of 
fishes in the normal position. The eye which belongs to the 
under side changes its position until it comes to lie on the upper 
side. The bones of the cranium, especially those about the eye, 
are twisted and the right and left branches of the jaw are un- 
equally developed. The dorsal and ventral fins become con- 
tinuous and the body tends to become bilaterally symmetrical 
in the new position. We can scarcely doubt that this asym- 
metrical condition has been brought about by the position 
which the animal takes in relation to the environment, but we 
know that in some species the eye begins to migrate now before 
the fish assumes the lateral position. 



PISCES 



373 



392. Classification of Fishes. 

Subclass I. Elasmobranchii (Sharks, Dog-fishes, Rays, Skates). — This group 
is often recognized as a separate class. Marine fishes with essentially cartilaginous 
skeleton; no operculum or gill-cover; mouth on the ventral surface of the head; 
hetefocercal tail; external skeleton of placoid scales; spiral valve in the intestine; 
no air bladder. The elasmobranchs are regarded by some as being the nearest 
present relatives of the primitive fishes. They occur most abundantly and are 
larger individually in warm seas. Tney are powerful swimmers as befits carnivor- 
ous, preying animals. They feed on Crustacea, Mollusca, and fish. 
Subclass II. Teleostomi. 

Order 1 Crossopterygi' . — Vertebral column well ossified; tail diphycercal; 
pelvic fins, when present, abdominal. Polypterus and Calamoichthys 
include the only existing representatives,. 
Order 2. Chondrostei. — Skeleton largely cartilaginous; ganoid scales; tail 
heterocercal ; pelvic fins abdominal. Paddle-fishes and sturgeons. 
Largely fresh-water forms. Feed upon small organisms. 

Fig. 187. 




Fig. 187. Long-eared Sunfish (Lepomis auritus). Adult. Photo from life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 



Order 3. Holostei. — Skeleton bony; scales ganoid or cycloid; tail diphycercal 
or homocercal; ventral fins abdominal. Gar -pikes and bow-fins. Preda- 
tory on other fish, crayfish, mollusks, etc. 
Order 4. Teleostei. — Skeleton bony; tail usually homocercal; scales cycloid 
or ctenoid. Carp, suckers, catfish, white fish, trout, pike, etc. This 
order contains the majority of living species of bony fishes. Many of 
the species are very important commercially. Food habits varied. 
Subclass III. Dipnoi (Lung-fishes). — Fishes with a persistent notochord and 
the internal skeleton incompletely ossified; soft cycloid scales; spiral valve in the 
intestine, the swim-bladder used as a lung, the auricle partly separated into two 
chambers, paired appendages with a central axis producing a flapper rather than 
a fin (Fig. 177). There are only three genera of living representatives, but these 
are especially interesting to the zoologist from the fact that they may represent 
the division of fishes from which the air-breathing vertebrates sprang. One genus 
(Neoceratodus) is found in the rivers of Queensland; the second (Protopterus) in 
the rivers of southern Africa, and a third (Lepidosiren) in the Amazon in South 
America. No marine forms are known. From fossil remains it is evident that 
the ancestors of the present lung-fishes were very much more widely distributed. 



374 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 188. 







Fig. i 88. Sheepshead. Greatly reduced. Photographed from life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 

Fig. 189. 




Fig. 189. — Young of the Snowy Grouper {Epinephelus niveatus). 
Shufeldt: American Naturalist. 



Photo from life by Dr. R. W. 



393. Supplementary Studies for Library and Field. 

1. What are the theories as to the origin of the paired fins of fishes? 

2. In what way do fishes change their long axis from the horizontal position 
so as to ascend or descend obliquely in swimming ? 

3. Range of size in .fishes. 

4. Probable origin of fresh-water fishes. What forms are now able to pass 
back and forth from fresh to salt water? 

5. Accumulate data concerning the habitat, food, breeding habits, distribu- 
tion, economic importance (with the reasons therefor) of some of the following 
fishes: salmon, trout, white-fish, sunfish, muskalonge, herring, eel, cod, flat-fish, 
mackerel, shark, ray, sturgeon, gar-pike, bowfin. 



pisces 375 

6. What is known of the habits of the lung-fishes calculated to suggest how the 
lung may be of value in preserving the life of the animals? 

7. Migrations among fishes. 

8. Parental care among fishes. 

9. The number of eggs produced by various species. 

10. Study figures showing the embryology of the salmon or other bony fish. 

11. The blind fishes found in caves. What are the principal facts concerning 
them, and what explanations have been offered to account for their habits and 
modifications. 

12. Collect all the data possible concerning the flat-fishes. 

13. Examine all the figures of fishes found in your library, and make note of 
the chief points of variation and the range of these. 









CHAPTER XXI 
CLASS AMPHIBIA (Frogs, Toads, Salamanders) 

394. The amphibians are especially interesting to the zoolo- 
gist because they begin life as gill-breathers (tadpoles) , and later 
they usually replace the gills by lungs. This is the meaning of 
the name. The fact that the amphibian in its individual life 
passes from a fish-like condition to the form and habits of the 
higher air-breathing vertebrates is taken as evidence that the 
higher vertebrates have sprung from fish-like ancestors through 
forms similar to the amphibians. The change from gills to 
lungs is not equally complete or striking in all the members of 
the group. The transition from water to air involves important 
changes in the problem of physical support, of locomotion, and 
of respiration, and in consequence, of the organs performing 
these functions as well as correlated changes in the integument 
and in the organs of circulation. The Amphibia were much 
more abundant in earlier geological times than at present, and 
attained huge size, whereas the modern forms, with a very few 
exceptions, are small. There are nearly two thousand living 
species. The tailless types (frogs and toads) are much the more 
numerous, as well as more highly developed. 

395. General Characters. 

1 . Vertebrata possessing gills during the larval stage and 
usually lungs in the adult; in some instances gills retained 
throughout life. 

2. Paired appendages when present conforming to the gen- 
eral vertebrate type; i.e., limbs with digits (typically five), 
instead of fins. 

3. Exoskeleton of scales and plates absent; skin glandular. 

4. Heart three-chambered; two auricles and one ventricle. 

5. A renal-portal and hepatic-portal circulation present. 
Red corpuscles nucleated. 

376 



AMPHIBIA 377 

6. The anus and the ducts from the excretory and genital 
organs open into a cloaca. 

7. Development usually by a metamorphosis. Segmenta- 
tion total but unequal. 

396. Form. — Amphibia differ much as to the shape of the 
body. The newts and salamanders are elongated, slender and 
eel-like; the frogs and toads have large, flat heads, stout trunks, 
and muscular limbs. Among the former groups there may be 
as many as two hundred and fifty body segments, in the latter 
the vertebrse behind the head are reduced to ten. The neck is 
usually inconspicuous and the head movement limited. 

397. Appendages. — There may be two pairs of appendages, 
one pair, or none at all. In most forms except the Anura (tail- 
less) the limbs are small and weak as compared with the body 
(Fig. 191). The limbs have a distinct dorsal and ventral (palmar 
surface, as well as an anterior and a posterior border. The 
digits are enumerated from the anterior border which terminates 
in the first, or thumb. In many forms there is a reduction of 
the digits on the anterior appendage from five to four. The 
digits universally lack claws. The feet are often webbed, and 
in the climbing toads the digits may end in discs by which they 
cling to objects. 

398. The skin is normally soft, and slimy by reason of a 
glandular secretion. It is composed of two layers, epidermis 
and dermis. In the frog the epidermis is in two layers, the 
outer of which may be shed at intervals. In toads, and other 
forms frequenting dry places, the epidermis may form warty 
thickenings. The skin is often highly colored owing to the 
presence of pigment cells in the deeper layers. There are two 
chief kinds, — black and yellow pigment cells. The pigment 
cells are much branched, and the pigment may either be con- 
centrated or diffused through the cells. The different colors 
are due to different concentration and different proportions of 
the various pigments. In some cases the tones of color may be 
changed in accordance with the surroundings by direct action of 
light on the pigment cells, or by the reflex nervous action of the 



378 ZOOLOGY 

animal, resulting from impressions on the retina of the eye. 
Besides light, — heat and cold, moisture, and probably internal 
states of the animal, may produce color changes. In many 
instances these colors are protective by making the animal like 
its surroundings. In the extinct Stegocephali external protec- 
tive plates were developed in the dermis. Minute dermal 
scales are found in some of the lowest present forms (" 'blind- 
worms 11 ). 

399. The Skeleton. — The points of contrast with the skele- 
ton of fishes are, chiefly: the presence of a sternum (formed in- 
dependently of the ribs) ; the imperfect development of the ribs; 
the typical limb skeleton ; the union of the pelvic girdle with the 
spinal column; the closer fusion of the upper jaw with the 
cranium. 

The vertebrae of the lower forms are biconcave as in fishes, 
in the higher forms (Salientia, and higher Caudata), concavo- 
convex. The vertebral column consists of one cervical verte- 
bra; a variable number of thoracic and abdominal vertebrae; 
usually one sacral, to which the posterior girdle is attached ; and 
a variable number of caudal vertebrae {one, in Salientia). 

400. Respiration. — In early larval stages the respiration is 
effected wholly by means of the skin, and even after the develop- 
ment of special organs of respiration the skin continues to serve 
this function in a greater or less degree. Most amphibians have, 
when hatched, external gills which may be retained through 
life (as in Siren, the "mud-eel"), or may give place to internal 
gills covered by a fold of skin (as in the development of the frog) . 
Typically, lungs replace both kinds of gills in the adult. The 
gill slits do not exceed three or four pairs in number. Some of 
the aquatic forms retain their gills when the lungs are developed, 
each method of respiration supplementing the other. Those 
which possess lungs alone in the adult must of necessity undergo 
profound changes in passing from the water-breathing to the 
air-breathing habit. The lungs arise as a ventral outgrowth 
from the esophagus or pharynx. From^the short trachea the 
two sac-like lungs spring. The walls are in folds but the sacs 
are simple. In some salamanders there are neither gills nor 



AMPHIBIA 379 

lungs in the adult, respiration taking place through the body 

surfaces, and by means of the bucco-pharyngeal membranes. 

The frog breathes through its nostrils. The mouth cavity can be 

increased by muscular action, thus allowing the entrance of air. 

The nasal openings are then closed by flaps and the air is forced 

by muscular action into the lungs. 

401. Supplementary Exercises for the Library. — Find as many different types 
of respiration as possible among the amphibians, and cite examples. What forms 
have gills only? What evidence is there that the environment has much to do 
with hastening or retarding the change from gills to lungs? Give the natural 
history of the Mexican axolotl as far as respiration is concerned. Are any Amphibia 
hatched with lungs at the outset? 

402. Circulation. — In the gill-breathing larvae the circula- 
tion is quite similar to that in fishes (§385; Fig. 181). When 
the gills are lost and lungs developed, the arterial arches (Fig. 
169) which supply the gills change their course, or suffer de- 
struction. This is an interesting instance of the modification 
of old structures to meet new demands. Coupled with these 
changes we find the separation of the auricle into two chambers 
— right and left. The veins from the lungs empty into the left, 
and the systemic veins into the right auricle. While there is 
only one ventricle into which both the pure blood from the lungs 
and the venous blood from the system go, it is so arranged that 
the venous blood is chiefly returned to the lungs and the purest 
blood goes to the head and to the systemic circulation. The 
venous circulation is modified in general accordance with the 
changes in the heart and arteries. 

403. Supplementary Exercise. — Compare the arterial vessels ' in the adult 
frog with those in the fish and the tadpole stage of the frog, and find what, in the 
opinion of various authors, is the fate of each of the arterial arches. See Figs. 
166-169. What are the most important differences in the venous circulation in 
fishes and in adult amphibians? 

404. Locomotion. — In the lower Amphibia, in which the 
appendages are poorly or not at all developed, the muscles of 
the body show the segmental arrangement seen in fishes, and 
locomotion is- effected by a serpentine or eel-like action of the 
body. In the higher forms, especially the Salientia, the limbs 
are well developed ; and the body muscles lose something of the 
regularity of their arrangement becoming more as we find 
them in the higher vertebrates. The muscles that move the 



380 ZOOLOGY 

limbs in relation to the body come to overlie and obscure the 
axial muscles proper. The Anura (frogs and toads) are espe- 
cially adapted to leaping and swimming by the great muscular 
development of the hind legs. 

405. Exercise. — Are there any special advantages in the leaping habit of 
motion either in the capture of prey or in escape from enemies? Verify from be- 
havior of toads and frogs. Can you find illustrations from other groups of animals ? 

406. Habits and Habitat. — There are no marine Amphibia. 
Nearly all live in or near the fresh-water streams, swamps, or 
ponds, even in the adult air breathing stage. Some are good 
climbers (tree-toads) ; others burrow. The tailless forms (Sali- 
entia) are found the world over except in salt water. The 
Caudata belong chiefly to the northern hemisphere. All are 
more abundant in warmer climates. Their food consists largely 
of insects, worms, and the smaller animals. The larvae even of 
carnivorous forms are sometimes vegetable feeders. They may 
live for a long time without food, and survive the winter in the 
colder latitudes by burrowing deep into the mud at the bottom 
of their ponds, or otherwise hibernating. During this time the 
vital processes are suspended or much reduced. 

407. Reproduction and Development. — The common Am- 
phibia lay rather large eggs, with a considerable amount of yolk 
which results in more or less unequal cleavage (Fig. 13, B). 
The eggs are usually surrounded by a gelatinous material, for 
their protection and adhesion, but they have no shell. They 
are almost universally deposited in the water, where impreg- 
nation takes place. In some of the Caudata impregnation is 
internal. In occasional species the young are brought forth alive. 
Ordinarily further development takes place in the water without 
any attention from the parents (frogs and toads). In a small 
South American frog (Rhinoderma) the male carries the fertilized 
eggs in his vocal sacs until hatched; in one of the tree-frogs from 
South America (Gastrotheca) the female has a pouch on the back 
in which the eggs are stored and hatched; in the Surinam toad 
the eggs are placed by the male on the back of the brooding 
female, where they become surrounded by spongy tissue. In 
these pits they hatch at once into the adult form without having 



AMPHIBIA 



381 



Fig. 190. 




Jo 

u 

Fig. 190. The metamorphosis of the Frog. (After Brehm.) Numbers indicate the sequence. 

Questions on the figures.— How much of the egg is really ovum? What are 
the changes which take place in passing through the various stages? In what 
order do the legs appear? How is respiration effected after stage 6? After stage 
11? What is proven by the collecting of the tadpoles as shown in 3? How do 
they retain their position. 



Fig. 191, 




Fig. 191. Tailed Amphibians. From Nicholson, after Mivart. A, Siren; B, Amphiuma tridac- 

tylum; C, Necturus. 

Questions on the figures. — Compare these three types and note all the chief 
differences of external structure. Compare also with figures you may be able to 
find of other Urodela. 






382 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 192. 




Fig. 192. Frog (Rana). Photo from life by J. W. Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — What is the round object behind the eye? What 
elements in the resting position of the frog put him in readiness for a quick spring ? 



Fig. 193. 




Fig. 



193. The Common Toad (Bufo Americanus) . Photo from life by Folsom. 



Questions on the figure. — Compare with the figure of the frog and note points 
of external similarity and difference. What do you know of the habits of the toad, 
— as to feeding, egg-laying, etc.? Where do they spend the winter? What of 
their development? 



AMPHIBIA 383 

external gills. This is of course a successful adaptation (by 
eliminating the metamorphosis) to a completely aerial habit. 

From this group we have beautiful illustrations of unequal 
cleavage of the ovum, of which the student should have the op- 
portunity of seeing figures in more extended works. If possible 
the cleaving eggs should be studied. 

408. Place in Nature. — The amphibians are among the oldest 
vertebrates. They are not, however, a very successful group as 
measured by numbers of species or of individuals. The class 
itself and such species as the frog suggest the way in which the 
zoologist thinks the land animals arose from the aquatic. 
Among amphibians we have types that are like fish, gill-breathers 
all through life; others begin as gill-breathers, retain their gills 
and develop lungs; still others lose their gills when the lungs 
are perfected; and some are hatched out with lungs, never 
having had functional gills. This makes a very suggestive 
series of connecting links between water and air-breathing forms. 

None of the species has large individuals. The "giant 
salamander" of Japan is the largest, reaching a length of 3-5 
feet. 

Amphibians are practically uniformly helpful to human in- 
terests, or at least without serious hurt to them. The toads 
destroy many injurious insects, and are thus particularly valu- 
able about gardens. Toads are easily reared artificially and 
might be made to give us even more aid in controlling this diffi- 
cult group. The legs of some of the larger species of frogs are 
eaten. The flesh is white and delicate. Frogs are also used in 
great numbers in the zoological laboratories, for dissection and 
experimentation. They have thus contributed no little to our 
knowledge of animal functions, particularly the functions of the 
nervous system. 

Profitable frog "farms" are being conducted in various 
parts of the country to meet the demands referred to above. 
This suggests possible uses for certain swamp lands not now 
suitable for other purposes. Edible frogs and turtles might be 
encouraged in such regions instead of inedible types. 

409. Special Exercises. — Describe the life history and the 
stages in the metamorphosis of the frog. (Fig. 190.) What 



384 ZOOLOGY 

larval organs disappear? What new organs are introduced? 
Compare other amphibians as to the degree and facts of meta- 
morphosis. 

410. Classification of Amphibia. 

Order I. Apoda. — Degenerate Amphibia with neither legs nor tail; body 
worm-like; no gills nor gill-slits in the adult; eyes more or less degenerate. Small 
scales are imbedded in the skin. Represented by the so-called blind-worms of 
tropical countries. 

Order II. Caudata. — Amphibia with tails persistent throughout life; body 
elongated; usually two pairs of appendages (sometimes only the anterior are 
present), which may be poorly developed. 

The principal suborders are: 

1. Proteida, three pairs of gills; two pairs of gill openings; eyelids absent. 
(Examples: Necturus, Proteus, Typhlomolge.) 

2. Meantes, three pairs of gills; three pairs of gill openings; no eyelids; no hind 
limbs. (Examples: Siren, Pseudobranchus.) 

3. Mutabilia, no gills in adult; gill openings usually absent; eyelids commonly 
present. (Examples: Cryptobranchus, Ambly stoma, Diemyctylus, Plethedon, Am- 
phiuma.) 

Order III. Salientia. — Amphibia in which the tail is absent in the adult 
condition, if present in the embryo. Two pairs of appendages, the posterior of 
which are well developed. Undergo a metamorphosis in which the larvae usually 
have the "tadpole" form, with gills and tail but without appendages. All traces 
of gills lost in the adult. The Salientia embrace the Bufonidae or common toads, 
the Ranidae or common frogs, the Hylidae or tree-toads, and other less common 
families. The Salientia include the great majority of the species of Amphibia. 



CHAPTER XXII 
CLASS REPTILIA (Crocodiles, Turtles, Lizards, Snakes) 

Laboratory Work 

411. Specimens of reptiles are scarcely abundant enough to 
serve as satisfactory laboratory types for elementary classes, 
but instructive comparisons may be made by individual stu- 
dents or by groups of students. These results should be 
reported to the class. 

Prepare three parallel columns, one for the lizard, one for 
the snake, and one for the turtle. Select a specimen of each 
and compare them with regard to their haunts; habits; food; 
general form of body; appendages, number, position, joints, 
digits; covering; manner of locomotion. 

412. Special Topics for Investigation in the Laboratory and Field. 

1 . Are reptiles warm or cold blooded ? Your evidences ? 

2. What are the differences between the scales of snakes and of fishes? 

3. In what various ways is the tail of reptiles used? How is the tail to be dis- 
tinguished from the rest of the body ? 

4. What special senses do reptiles possess? What are your evidences? What 
peculiarities have the organs of sense? 

5. What peculiarities do the internal organs of the snake have which to you 
seem to be correlated with the slender, elongate form of the animal? 

6. What species of snakes, turtles, and lizards are found in your locality? 
Report on the special habits of each species in so far as you can determine them 
by observation. Supplement by reference to authorities. 

Descriptive Text 

413. The Reptilia differ from the vertebrates hitherto studied 
in the fact that at no period of life do they possess gills. They 
agree with the lower forms in being cold-blooded and in the 
incomplete separation of the heart into right and left compart- 
ments (except in the crocodiles). They are, in addition to 
their air-breathing habit, similar to the birds and mammals 
in possessing the protective embryonic membranes known as 

2 * 385 



386 ZOOLOGY 

the amnion and allantois (see §423), the latter of which is im- 
portant in embryonic respiration, that is, before hatching or 
birth. The_group reached its culmination in numbers, variety 
and size in the Mesozoic age. So conspicuous was this group 
that the Mesozoic is called the "Age of Reptiles." All present 
living reptiles are but a remnant of what was once the greatest 
and most diversified group of the land vertebrates. In the 
Mesozoic era there were immense swimming, fish-like forms 
(ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs) which ruled the seas; powerful 
terrestrial dinosaurs, often walking on their hind legs, and in- 
cluding the largest land animals known to have lived ; and others, 
with membranous wings like the bat, the first vertebrates to 
learn the art of flying (Fig. 196). With the exception of a few 
marine turtles, the boas and pythons, and the alligators and 
crocodiles, the living species are for the most part small animals. 

414. General Characteristics. 

1. Usually covered with scales or plates derived from the 
dermis (bony), or the epidermis (horny), or from both. 

2. Digits (3-5) when present provided with claws. 

3. Vertebrae concavo-convex, usually concave in front and 
convex behind. 

4. Heart three chambered ; — that is, auricles completely sepa- 
rated, but the ventricles only partially so except in the Croco- 
dilia. 

5. Two aortic arches, a right and a left, in the adult. 

6. Gills absent in all stages. 

7. Chiefly oviparous ; eggs large, well supplied with yolk, and 
protected by a leathery shell. 

Embryonic membranes, — amnion and allantois — first make 
their appearance in this group. 

415. The Reptiles are very diverse in form. Perhaps the 
lizards may be taken as typical, with more or less cylindrical 
body, generally distinct head and neck, distinct tail, and usually 
two pairs of appendages, each possessing five digits armed with 
claws. They are mostly small animals, though one species is 
known to attain a length of seven or eight feet. The crocodiles 



REPTILIA 387 

and alligators are similar in shape but much larger. The tur- 
tles and snakes are most widely different from the type and 
must be regarded as much specialized forms. The turtles have 
a characteristic protective bony box, and are ill adapted for 
rapid motion either on land or water. Snakes, on the other 
hand, elongated and devoid of appendages, are graceful in their 
motions and some species exhibit rapid locomotion. Some of 
the lizards agree with the snakes in lacking legs. 

416. Covering. — The external covering in reptiles is in the 
form of scales or plates formed by the epidermis, or the dermis, 
or both. That deposited by the epidermis is horny and that 
by the dermis, bony. In snakes and many lizards the scales 
are epidermal and may be periodically shed and renewed. The 
scales usually differ in shape and size in different parts of the 
body. In turtles and their allies the horny constituent, which 
is illustrated by the "tortoise shell" of commerce, is in the form 
of plates and is reinforced by bony dermal plates beneath. 
The latter do not, in the adult at least, correspond in number and 
size with the former, but are closely associated with the bones 
of the internal skeleton. In crocodiles the dermal scales cor- 
respond in general with the epidermal. 

The members of the group are on the whole well protected 
by these external growths. In many instances, as in certain of 
the lizards, prominent projections are formed upon the body 
covering, giving a striking appearance to the animals. 

417. Internal Skeleton. — The vertebral column, except in 
the snakes and snake-like lizards, shows the customary regions 
(see §349). In the limbless forms only two regions are recog- 
nized, — the pre -caudal vertebras which bear the ribs, and the 
caudal or tail vertebrae. The vertebras are usually concave in 
front and convex behind, thus making a kind of ball-and-socket 
joint. In snakes the number of vertebrae is very large. No 
sternum occurs in turtles and snakes. When present, as in 
lizards and crocodiles, it is formed in connection with the ven- 
tral end of the ribs. 

The skull articulates with the first vertebra by one surface 



388 ZOOLOGY 

(condyle) instead of two as in mammals. In the snakes and 
lizards the quadrate bone is movable thus permitting great in- 
crease in the caliber of the throat (Fig. 194). The cranium is 
completely ossified thus showing an advance over the Amphibia. 
The radius and ulna and the tibia and fibula are separate. 
Vestiges of the pelvic girdles are found in some snakes, although 
the limbs are wanting. 




.,- a* 



Fig. 194. Skull of Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). From Nicholson, after Huxley, ar, 
articular portion of lower jaw; de, dentary portion; bo, basi-occipital; mx, maxilla, bearing poison 
fang; na, nasal; pi, palatine, the front end being represented by a dotted line as though seen through 
the maxilla; pmx, premaxilla; po, post frontal; pr, prefrontal; pi, pterygoid; qu, quadrate; sq, squa- 
mosal; tr, transverse bone. 

Questions on the figure. — Which bones bear teeth? Which are cranial and 
which facial bones? What bones do you find common to the snake and the fish 
(Fig. 180)? How do they differ in the two forms? What is the function of the 
quadrate? How does it differ in the different groups of Vertebrates? 

418. Respiration. — Functional gills never occur, though gill- 
slits are partly developed in the embryo only to close again 
before hatching. The trachea is elongated and is supported by 
cartilaginous rings as in the higher forms. It divides into two 
bronchi, each of which passes to a spindle-shaped sac — the lung 
— which is much simpler in its internal structure than those of 
birds and mammals. In the snakes one lung (the left) is much 



REPTILIA 



389 



reduced or even altogether aborted. This is an adaptation to 
the narrow elongated body cavity. The ribs when present and 
the muscles acting on them are the prime agents in breathing. 

419. Circulation. — In reptiles the right and left auricles are 
entirely distinct but, with the exception of the Crocodilia, the 
ventricles are only partially so. The septum in the ventricle is 
perforated. Yet in those forms in which the pure blood of the 
left auricle and the impure blood of the right partially mingle 
in the ventricle, the arrangement is such that the purest blood 

Fig. 195. 



pr. z. 




t. p. 



Fig. 195. Vertebrae of a Reptile (after Huxley). A, anterior view; B, posterior view of the 
vertebra in front of A. The surface of A fits against the surface of B. c, centrum, which is convex 
in B, fitting into a concavity in A; n.s., neural spine; pr.z., pre-zygapophyses, or anterior articular 
facets, which fit against pt.z., post-zygapophyses; t.p., transverse processes; z.s., a wedge-like 
articular face on the neural arch designed to fit into z.a., a depression on the posterior face of the 
neural arch o* the vertebra in front (23). 

Questions on the figures. — Try to form a clear picture of the relations of the 
articulating surfaces of the vertebrae and indicate the possible advantages of the 
arrangements. Where is the neural cavity? Where do the ribs articulate? 
What is the gain in muscular attachments from the numerous bony outgrowths 
on the vertebrae? 



goes to the brain and the least pure to the lungs (see Fig. 170). 
Two aortic arches unite, giving rise to the dorsal aorta. In the 
reptiles and higher groups of vertebrates the renal-portal circu- 
lation (see Fig. 181, r.p.) ceases to be of much importance, but 
the hepatic portal is increasingly important. The red corpuscles 
are elliptical and possess nuclei. 

420. Nervous System and Special Sense Organs. — The 

brain is not large in the reptiles, but is rather more highly de- 



390 ZOOLOGY 

veloped than in the Amphibia. This is especially true of the 
cerebral hemispheres. The usual senses are represented. The 
rather large eyes are provided with movable eyelids except 
among the snakes, in which a permanent transparent membrane 
covers the eye. In some reptiles (lizards) there is a remnant 
of a median eye which is very degenerate in the adult. It is in 
connection with the pineal body in the second division of the 
brain. Hearing varies. It is rather keen in turtles; apparently 
less so in snakes. Smell is well developed. Touch is repre- 
sented in the skin over the body, but is interfered with by the 
scales and plates. 

421. Habits. — The reptiles are best represented in the 
tropical regions. The larger types, as the crocodiles, python, 
boa are almost confined to the warm zones, especially of South 
America, Africa and Asia. Numerous smaller representatives 
of the lizards, snakes, and turtles are found in temperate lati- 
tudes. These usually undergo a period of hibernation during 
the cold season. This habit of hibernating and seeking warmer 
climates seems related to the cold-blooded condition. The heat- 
producing qualities of the animals are not equal to the task of 
maintaining activity during extreme cold. The variation of 
temperature is of course a more serious problem to terrestrial 
animals than to aquatic types. Although air-breathers, very 
many of the group are aquatic, as the turtles, crocodiles, and 
many snakes. The lizards are almost without exception terres- 
trial. Nearly all prey on other animals; the smaller on worms, 
insects, and eggs of various kinds, and the larger on birds, fish, 
Amphibia, and mammals. The land tortoises are vegetable 
feeders. 

Reptiles are rather sluggish animals. They like to bask in 
the sun. They are capable often of very rapid motion; but it 
is spasmodic. 

Reptiles, especially the snakes, have a bad reputation, yet 
there is no doubt that their dangerous qualities are much ex- 
aggerated in popular opinion. The lizards are almost wholly 
non-venomous and the majority of the common snakes of this 
country are also harmless. The principal dangerous snakes 



REPTILIA 



391 



are the cobra of the East Indies where nearly 25,000 deaths 
were caused by serpents in 1899 ; the vipers of Europe; the rattle- 
snakes, water-moccasin, and copperhead of our own country. 
There are twenty-seven poisonous species in this country of 
which fifteen species are rattle-snakes. The venom serves the 
snake both as a means of defense' and of paralyzing its prey. 
Some forms which are not poisonous assume bodily attitudes 
similar to those of the poisonous species. The dangerous species 
(and unfortunately the harmless ones) are being rapidly exter- 
minated by man. 

Fig. 196. 




Fig. 196. Rhamphorhynchus merensteri, — a restoration of an extinct flying Reptile. 
Cambridge Natural History, after Geikie. 



From the 



Questions on the figure. — In what respects does a form like this differ in 
external appearance from a bird? From a bat? What skeletal structures would 
a palaeontologist need to find in order to believe that an extinct form had the power 
of flight? 

422. Special Exercises. — Find data concerning hibernation in reptiles and other 
vertebrates: its object and advantages; preparation; place; degree in which vitality- 
is suspended during the process, etc. 

Describe the poison apparatus of venomous snakes. What is the homology 
of the fang? Of the gland? 

How do different snakes capture their prey? How prepare it for swallowing? 

Describe and attempt to explain the motion of snakes from actual observation: 
in water; on land. 

423. Reproduction and Development. — The ova escape from 
the two ovaries into the body cavity. The ova enter the ovi- 
ducts, and during the descent are fertilized. After fertilization 
the glands in the walls of the oviducts add albumen and shell 
structures, as in the birds. The eggs require a period of incu- 
bation which usually occurs outside the body; though some 



392 ZOOLOGY 

lizards and snakes retain the eggs in the oviduct until the em- 
bryo is hatched, thus bringing forth their young alive. Many 
forms deposit their eggs in the warm sand or earth or in decay- 
ing rubbish heaps, where the abundant heat is favorable for the 
developing young. 

Much yolk is present in the egg and segmentation is partial, 
being confined to a disc. The germinal layers and the im- 
portant organs develop about the axis of this disc, the outer 
margins of which spread over the whole yolk in the form of a 
sac designed to nourish the embryo. The details of the growth 
are entirely too complicated for statement here. Two important 
embryonic membranes — the amnion and allantois — appear for 
the first time (see also §440). The amnion consists of folds 
of the blastodermic disc which arise, surrounding the embryo 
at its margin. These folds grow dorsally over the embryo and 
ultimately fuse to enclose a space which becomes filled with 
fluid. The amnion folds include both ectoderm and mesoderm. 
It is protective in function (Fig. 208, am). The cavity between 
the two layers of the amnion is an outgrowth of the ccelom. 
The allantois arises as an evagination from the posterior portion 
of the digestive tract, and is made up of entoderm and meso- 
derm. It grows into the cavity of the amnion. It finally sur- 
rounds not merely the embryo but the yolk on the ventral side, 
and being well supplied with blood vessels is most important in 
supplying the embryo with oxygen. In this and in other 
features the reptiles show a close kinship with the birds. 

424. Place in Nature. — Reptiles live upon both plant and 
animal food. They devour worms, insects, fish, amphibians, 
birds, small mammals, and eggs. Not many animals depend 
on reptiles for food. They are, perhaps, more immune from 
attack than most animals. Some of the predaceous birds eat 
lizards and snakes. 

The group does not aid man at many points. Certain large 
lizards, and the tortoises and turtles furnish food. The soft- 
shelled turtle, the green-turtle, and the diamond-back terrapin 
are the most prized. 

Skins of crocodiles and of some snakes, and the horny tor- 



REPTILIA 



393 



toise-shell are used in the manufacture of bags, ornaments, and 
the like. 

Probably the chief value of the group to man is in the de- 
struction of noxious insects by lizards and rodents by snakes. 

425. Classification of Reptiles. 

Order I. Testudinata {Turtles and Tortoises). — The Testudinata are reptiles 
with short, flattened or dome-shaped bodies enclosed in a case formed by a dorsal 
shield {carapace) and a ventral {plastron). In some the carapace and plastron 
make a rather tight-box practically covering the animal. In others they are 
smaller and the edges are further apart. In these the appendages may protrude 
more, and the freedom of motion is much greater. The jaws are covered with a 

Fig. 197. 




Fig. 197. 



Common Box Tortoise (Terrapene Carolina). Photographed from life by Dr. R. W. 
Shufeldt. 



horny case and are destitute of teeth. The quadrate bone is firmly fused to the 
cranium. The sternum is absent. Turtles seem rather more common in the 
northern hemisphere. The largest species are marine and may attain a weight of 
half a ton. Some live in fresh water and others on land. The flesh of some species 
is much prized for food. The green-turtle of the Atlantic coast is one of the 
choicest, its flesh being much used for soups. The large hawks-bill turtle of the 
tropical seas furnishes "tortoise-shell," used in combs and other ornaments. The 
shells of the leather-back and other ' ' soft-shelled ' ' turtles are not completely ossi- 
fied. The "snappers " are ferocious animals, the big snapper of the Southern states 
being particularly vicious. 

Order II. Squamata {Lizards). Suborder Sauria. — Reptiles in which the body 
is usually covered with small scales. Two pairs of limbs are ordinarily present; 
but either or both may be wanting. The quadrate bone is somewhat movable. 
The teeth are not in sockets of the jaw. Sternum present. The cloacal opening is 
transverse. 



394 



ZOOLOGY 



The Sauria include, beside the types commonly known as lizards, the horned- 
toads, and the glass snake — a legless lizard. They subsist largely on insects and 
the eggs of other animals. Only one species is known to be poisonous — the " Gila 
monster" of New Mexico and southward. The glass snake possesses in a high 
degree a power more or less common among lizards — of breaking loose from the 
tail when struck, or held by that organ. In some species, at least, a new tail 
may be regenerated. Most lizards are terrestrial, though a few are aquatic. They 

Fig. 198. 



^S 


■■^^ n 








i\ 



Fig. 198. 



Swift Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus). Adult. 
Shufeldt. 



Photographed from life by Dr. R. W. 



run, burrow, and climb. One species (Fig. 199) has a membrane extending from 
the sides, supported by ribs, that serves as a parachute. 

Suborder Predentia, includes the chameleons. 

Suborder Serpentes. — Reptiles with elongated bodies covered by fold-like 
epidermal scales which may be shed as a single " cast." Limbs are wholly wanting. 
The mouth is capable of great extension on account of the elongate, movable 
quadrate bone. Teeth are numerous and fastened (not in sockets) to the bones 



REPTILIA 



395 



Fig. 199. 







vt 


% "; 


W "'i^^t 










s-fjsf 












^M 


MM 




'^J^T 




**WBie«Ea§3L 




PtflfPJ 






*^%& 




S,*008^&m& 




■3$%&*> 




^Sr^S^Sfi 




.*. - 










•I'Ve'-^ 


%S 




<ii^ V ^ 


Ki^ 





Fig. 199. Flying Lizard (Draco volans). From Nicholson. 



Fig. 200. 




Fig. 200. Dorsal view of a "Gila Monster" (Heloderma suspectum). Photographed by Dr. R. W. 

Shufeldt. 



396 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 201. 




Fig. 201. Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). Photographed from life by Dr. R. W 

Shufeldt. 



Pig. 202. 




dio. 202. Brown King Snake (Lampropellis- rhombomaculatas) . Photographed from life by Dr. 

R. W. Shufeldt. 

Questions on the figure. — What structural adaptations have the snakes which 
tend to take the place of appendages? Illustrate your conclusions by citing ex- 
amples. 



REPTILIA 397 

bearing them. Sternum wanting. There are no movable eyelids. The tongue is 
protrusible, and is doubtless much used as an organ of touch, and possibly hearing. 

Snakes are, like lizards, partial to warm climates, but are also found in tem- 
perate latitudes. Most are terrestrial, but some take to water readily; and there 
are some which never come to land. These bring forth their young alive. Many 
snakes are beautifully and characteristically colored. In some instances the 
coloration is deemed to be protective. 

Order III. Crocodilini {Crocodiles, Alligators, etc.). — Fresh- water reptiles 
with elongated bodies bearing two pairs of well-developed appendages. The skin is 
armed with dermal bony scales or scutes covered by epidermal scales. Teeth 
occur in sockets. The quadrate is immovable and the sternum is present. The 
adult heart is completely divided into right and left halves. The cloaca opens by 

Fig. 203. 




Fig. 203. Head of the American Alligator {Alligator mississippiensis). From Eckstein. 

a longitudinal slit. Here are included the gavial of the Ganges, the crocodiles 
of the Nile and of tropical America, and the alligator of America. They are some- 
what sluggish animals, but when hungry will attack with success the larger mam- 
mals or man. They may attain a length of twenty feet or more. Crocodilia 
are chiefly aquatic, though they rest and deposit their eggs on the shore. 

There are numerous orders of extinct reptiles which show close relationship 
with the amphibians, birds and mammals of early geological times. This is 
merely another way of saying that the early Reptilia and the other vertebrates 
were much more generalized in their characteristics and less differentiated than 
those of the present. Reptiles occupy a central position among the classes of land 
vertebrates. 

426. Supplementary Topics for Investigation. 

1 . Have the venomous snakes any characteristic appearance ? 

2. Report on the habits of the rattle-snake. Whence the 
structure giving rise to the name ? The nature of the fang and 
the poison gland. 

3 . What is the degree of activity and strength of the reptiles 
and cold-blooded animals, as compared with the warm-blooded ? 



398 ZOOLOGY 

4. The characteristics of the principal groups of geological 
reptiles. 

5. The meaning of hibernation. Illustrations of its method 
among the reptiles. 

6. The various methods of capturing prey among reptiles. 

7. The facts concerning incubation and care of young among 
reptiles. 

8. The development of the amnion and allantois. See 
figures in reference texts. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

CLASS AVES (Birds) 

427. Laboratory and Field Studies.— Each student or group 
of students should be encouraged to select one or more species 
of birds and to study their behavior and external structure in 
the light of the following outline. 
I. Habits, Instincts and Activities. 

Haunts and feeding habits. What are its favorite foods? 

How determined ? What emergency foods will it use ? 
Social habits ; solitary or gregarious ? 
Mating habits; monogamous or polygamous? Degree of 

sexual dimorphism ? 
Determine and describe its powers of song. Are they equally 
developed in all individuals of the species ? Can you cite 
any evidence that the power is of any use to the animals ? 
Nesting habits; number of eggs, their size and other char- 
acters. Is their color of any conceivable use? Which 
sex incubates the eggs ? Condition of the young at hatch- 
ing and the care given by the parents to the young. Sum 
up the instinctive reactions which relate to reproduction, 
beginning with the spring migration and ending with the 
autumn migration. 
Migrations. Are there any evidences of winter (or other 
important) migrations ? If not, how is the winter spent ? 
If so, at what time does it occur ? When does the species 
return ? Any other known facts. 
Power and peculiarities of flight. Other modes of locomo- 
tion ? Is the power of perching well developed ? 
What are its relations to the other animals of the locality ? 

Has it any enemies ? Is it hostile to any species of animals ? 
What is its abundance or scarcity in your locality? Can 
you assign any explanation of the facts observed ? 
II. General External Appearance. 

399 



400 ZOOLOGY 

Regions of the body: head, neck, trunk, limbs. Record all 

observable facts about : 

Head: beak, mouth, nares, eyes (how many lids?), ears. 

Neck: length, natural position, flexibility, etc. 

Trunk: proportions, symmetry, shape, size, etc. 

Wings: arm, forearm, hand. 

Legs: thigh, shank, foot. Where is the heel ? Evidences? 
Note further arrangement and number of digits; form of 
the claws; covering of the tarso-metatarsus. 
Covering of the body. Compare the color of all visible parts. 

Select feathers from various parts of the body; study as a 
type one of the large wing feathers, noting : shaft (quill 
and rackis), vane (barbs and barbules). 

Compare the other feathers selected with this one. What 
would you suggest as the prime function of each kind ? 

Arrangement of the feathers. 

On wings: remiges (large), primary (on hand) and 

secondary (on forearm) ; coverts. 

On tail : rectrices, number and arrangement ; coverts. 

On body (dip in hot water and pluck) : note the pits 

which have borne the feathers; arrangement of these. 

Are they uniformly distributed over the entire body ? 

Sketch the plucked bird, studying more carefully the regions 

already noted. Locate 

Openings: mouth, nares, ears, cloaca. 
Queries : 

Is there any connection between the closing of the toes 
and the flexing of the leg ? Has this any use to the ani- 
mal? 

Which digits are represented? Are they equally devel- 
oped? 

Which digit is turned backward ? How is this determined ? 

Is there a tongue? Are there teeth? Do the nostrils 
communicate with the mouth ? 

What do you consider the function of the nictitating mem- 
brane ? Are the eyes movable ? Do they view the same 
field? 

Do the two together cover the entire field of view ? 

How much external ear is present ? 



AVES 401 

Are the scales homologous with feathers ? (See reference 
texts.) 
III. Internal Structures. (The pigeon is a good type for 
anatomical study.) 
The student knows what internal organs and systems of 
organs to expect in vertebrates, and may well be required 
to block out an outline of work. What are the principal 
sets of organs to be expected? How do these compare 
with the corresponding structures in the fish or frog ? Do 
you find any structures not found in the lower types. Un- 
certainties may be settled by reference to more extended 
texts. Record both by description and drawings. 

Descriptive Text 

428. Birds may be looked upon as sharing with mammals 
the first place in the animal kingdom. Even the mammals as 
a class are not so highly specialized in structure and in habits 
as the birds. Their most striking features of specialization are 
connected with the demands of aerial life which they have so 
successfully met. They share with the insects the most perfect 
development of the power of flight found among animals. It 
follows from their high degree of specialization that they are 
among the most easily recognized of the vertebrates. The 
earliest geological traces of birds show that they are closely 
linked with reptiles in their origin, and the modern birds pre- 
serve many interesting likenesses to the reptiles. Some of these 
are seen in the scales on the shank and feet of birds ; in the hat>it 
of laying large, yolk-ladened eggs which hatch outside the 
body; in the structure of the egg and its mode of cleavage; the 
peculiarities of the ankle joint ; in the presence of a cloaca. 

429. General Characteristics of Birds. 

1. Epidemic outgrowths usually in the form of feathers (or 
scales in special regions, as the feet). 

2. Anterior appendages in the majority of forms modified 
for flight. Large development of the pectoral muscles and the 
bones to which they are attached. 

3. A single occipital condyle. 

4. Heart completely four-chambered; only one (systemic) 
26 



402 ZOOLOGY 

aortic arch, which turns to the right ; red corpuscles oval and 
nucleated. High bodily temperature, ioo° to no° F. Renal 
portal circulation almost wanting. 

5. Some of the bronchial tubes terminating in air spaces (not 
true lung tissue) located in various parts of the body. These 
communicate with air cavities in some of the bones. 

6. Parts of the skeleton much fused. Teeth absent, the jaw 
being sheathed by a horny product of the epidermis (beak). 

7. Right ovary and oviduct aborted or rudimentary. 

8. Oviparous; yolk abundant; segmentation discoidal; am- 
nion and allantois present. 

430. Form. — The birds, like many of the extinct reptiles, 
are bipeds. The axis of the more or less stout body makes an 
angle of varying size with the axis of the legs, that is, the vertical. 
The sacrum and the soft parts of the body project behind this 
point of union in such a way as to balance the anterior parts. 
The anterior appendages are not always well developed but are 
much anterior to and above the centre of gravity. This results 
in a more stable position of the body in flight. The posterior 
appendages are relatively long, sometimes extraordinarily so. 
In all cases there is an interesting correlation between the length 
of the neck and that of the legs. The wading birds are especially 
endowed in these particulars. The posterior appendages usually 
have four digits. These may all be directed forward as in some 
swifts, or much more commonly the great toe (number 1) is 
directed backward ; in some species two are turned backward and 
two forward. In swimming birds a web is present which 
stretches from toe to toe. The special form and arrangement 
of the web differ in different species. The digits end in claws 
which vary greatly in accordance with the habits of the possessor. 
The anterior appendages usually show traces of three much 
reduced digits. 

431. Supplementary Studies. — Make a series of studies of the ?ngle made by 
the axis of the body with a vertical line in various birds. Compare this angle in the 
robin when at rest and when running. Make outline drawings of the shank and 
toes of all the types of birds which can be found, and discuss the differences in the 
light of the habits of the birds. Compare these with figures in texts. Make 
figures of the varieties of webs found in the aquatic birds. 



AVES 



403 



432. Covering. — The form of birds as outlined above is 
much modified by the presence of feathers. They increase the 
stretch of the wings and the surface exposed to the air, and thus 
are important as aids to flight. In addition they are protective 
in several respects. Pigment in the feathers serves to enhance 
greatly the beauty and variety of the members of the group. 
That the color patterns are of distinct value in sexual attraction 

Fig. 204. 




Fig. 204. Diagram showing the tracts where the principal growth of feathers occurs (JJpupa epops) . 
From Bronn. The dotted areas are the pleryla. 

Questions on the figure. — Is this a dorsal or a ventral view? Find a figure 
giving the opposite view of some bird and compare with this. Is there variety in 
the different species of birds as to the distribution of the growth of feathers? 

has been believed by many naturalists. The feathers, together 
with the rcales of the shank, the claws, and the beak, are epi- 
dermal growths. Feathers are not usually produced uniformly 
over the body, but are grouped in regions which differ in different 
species. They also vary a great deal in form, from the down 
feathers of the young to the stiff quill-feathers of the wings and 



404 ZOOLOGY 

tail. Most birds shed their, feathers either a few at a time the 
year round, or within a short period. In the former case the 
change may be scarcely noticeable. When the moulting takes 
place rapidly, it may be accompanied by temporary disturbance 
in the health and habits of the animal. The new feathers may 
differ in color from the old, and thus a periodic change is appar- 
ent in the dress of some of our birds. This is not infrequently 
of such character as to accord in color with the changes in 
nature outside, giving a real protective value. 

433- Supplementary Topics. — In what various ways are the feathers of birds 
protective? Explain how the protection is realized in each case. What varieties 
of feathers may be found in birds, and what are the chief differences in structure? 
How are the color patterns obtained ? Are they made up of feathers of one color 
so put together as to form the pattern, or is a single feather of more than one color? 
Does a single feather ever show an independent complex color pattern? Where is 
the boundary between feathers and scales on the legs of various breeds of chickens? 
Do you find any evidences that feathers are highly modified scales? Are any of 
the feathers like the hair of mammals? 

Secure further data from nature and from reference books concerning the 
moulting habits of birds. 

434. Endoskeleton. — The chief points of importance to the 
elementary student are as follows : 

i. There is a fusion of several vertebrae in the sacral region 
(including some of the thoracic, all of the lumbar, the sacrals 
and the caudals) with the dorsal bones of the pelvic girdle, to 
form a strong dome-shaped structure above the viscera. The 
cervical vertebrae vary much in number (eight to twenty-four) 
with the length of the neck. 

2. The cranial bones fuse closely, and the bones of the face 
are prolonged into the core for the beak (Fig. 219). 

3. The sternum is normally well developed and provided 
with a keel to which the muscles of flight are attached. Finger- 
like processes also increase its surface for the attachment of 
muscles and the support of the viscera. 

4. The ribs are double-headed, and each has a process on 
the posterior margin, joining it to the rib behind. 

5. The pectoral girdle has its clavicles fused ventrally in the 
flying birds, forming the "wish bone." 



AVES 405 

6.. In the pelvic girdle the ventral bones (ischium and pubis) 
both pass backward from the hip joint and support the viscera. 

7. The ankle region of the birds is very characteristic. The 
proximal tarsals unite with the tibia, and the distal tarsals unite 
with the fused metatarsals to form the tarso-metatarsus or shank. 
The joint is between the proximal and distal tarsals (see 
Fig. 161). 

435. Digestive Organs. — The horny beak entirely replaces 
the teeth in the modern birds. In the ancient members of the 
group teeth are known to have been present. The esophagus, 
often of great length, is usually expanded into a non-glandular 
crop, where the food is stored and softened. The stomach often 
consists of two portions, the anterior glandular proventriculus 
and the posterior muscular gizzard. In birds which habitually 
feed on grains or other hard objects the inner wall of the gizzard 
is lined with a hard and thickened cuticle which assists in grind- 
ing the food. Fragments of rock, sand, etc., are nearly always 
swallowed by grain-eating forms to assist in the process. These 
are manifestly devices to do work usually done by teeth. The 
usual glands are found associated with the digestive tract, ex- 
cepting the salivary. The tract ends in a cloaca. 

436. Supplementary Studies. — What is the exact position 
of the crop ? Advantage of this position ? Make a comparative 
study of the beak in various birds ; how adapted to the habits ? 
Is there any recorded evidence that the character of the gizzard 
in a given individual may vary somewhat in accordance with 
the food used ? 

43 7 . Respiration. — The trachea usually corresponds in length 
to the length of the neck. Its rings are rigid (partly ossified). 
It divides into a right and left bronchus which pass to the respec- 
tive lungs. The lungs are closely applied, and even attached, 
to the dorsal wall of the thorax and are small in proportion to 
the size of the animal. Some of the bronchial tubes connect 
with air spaces (nine in the pigeon) among the viscera and ex- 
tending even into the hollow bones. They are probably chiefly 
respiratory in function. 



406 ZOOLOGY 

Bird notes are produced not at the upper end of the trachea 
as in other vertebrates but near its lower end, where it joins 
the bronchi. The organ is called the syrinx. Its mode of action 
is somewhat similar to that of the vocal cords in the larynx of 
mammals. 

438. The Nervous System and Organs of Special Sense. — 

The cerebral hemispheres are relatively larger than in any of 
the groups yet studied. Their surface is smooth. The cere- 
bellum is also large and concentrated chiefly in a central or 
median lobe. By the growth of these two portions the well- 
developed optic lobes are crowded into a lateral position. The 
olfactory lobes are small and the sense of smell is not so acute as 
in many other vertebrates. The optic lobes and the eyes are 
well developed and the sense of sight is correspondingly acute. 
The eye protrudes as a somewhat rounded cone in front. This 
is supported by a ring of sclerotic (bony) plates. The power of 
accommodation, that is, of focusing the eye upon objects at 
different distances, is very great in birds. In addition to the 
upper and lower lids a transparent fold of the conjunctiva 
(nictitating membrane) may be drawn over the eye from the inner 
corner. Hearing is acute, and the condition of the ear is inter- 
esting chiefly in the facts of the absence of the concha of the ex- 
ternal ear, and in the presence of a well-developed but uncoiled 
cochlea in the internal ear. 

Birds are sensitive, easily aroused, active. This nervous 
activity is correlated with the high temperature, rapid respira- 
tion, and large consumption of food. 

439. Habits. — None of the animal groups present habits 
more interesting, more readily studied or more suggestive of 
the adaptation of structure to the demands of the environment 
than do the birds. The student will find by observation and 
by reference to current works on natural history many inter- 
esting facts in connection with bird-life. Under the suggest- 
ive studies a partial list of such topics will be found. In the 
chapter on Adaptations and in the section on the classification 
of birds (Ch. VIII, and §441) additional facts have been pre- 



AVES 



407 



sented. Much of the time given to the practical studies of the 
group of birds should be directed to their life and adaptations. 




Fig. 206. 



•od. 




vA.c 



u.o. 



Fig. 205. Diagram of the female genital organs of a Bird, c, cloaca; *, intestine; k, kidney; 
o, ovary with ova of different size; od., oviduct; o./., funnel of the oviduct; 0.0., opening of the ovi- 
duct into the cloaca; », ureter; u.o., opening of ureter into the cloaca. Only one ovary and oviduct 
are fully developed in the Birds. , . 

Questions on the figure. — What openings has the oviduct? Why must the 
union of sperm and ovum take place before the egg gets well down the oviduct? 
Define the cloaca. On which side are the sexual organs rudimentary in the female 
bird? 

Fig. 206. Diagram of the urino-genital organs of a male Bird, ad., adrenal body; c, cloaca; 
», intestine; k, kidney; t, testis; u, ureter; u.o., opening of ureter into the cloaca; v.d., vas deferens; 
v.d.o., opening of the vas deferens; v.s., vesicula seminalis. 

Questions on the figure. — What is the function of the vas deferens? Of the 
vesicula seminalis? What differentiates the cloaca from the intestine? What 
are the chief differences in the excretory organs of birds and mammals? 



These various habits and modes of life have frequently been 
made the basis of classification: for example, some fly and 
some do not; some wade, having long legs; others swim and 



408 



ZOOLOGY 



have webbed feet; some capture living prey with talons and 
curved beak; some scratch and have blunted claws; some climb 
and have two digits directed forward and two backward; 
others perch and have only one toe pointed backward. The 
resort to such superficial features in classifying birds suggests 
that the members of the class are more closely related and more 
similar among themselves in the fundamental features of struc- 
ture than is the case with the subdivisions of the other classes 
of vertebrates. 

Fig. 207. 




g-zv. 



Fig. 207. Diagram of a longitudinal section of the embryo of a fowl, without the amnion and 
allantois. Ectodermal boundaries are in continuous lines, the entodermal and mesodermal are in 
broken lines: the entodermal of short dashes, the mesodermal of long, b, brain; b.w., body wall; 
ex., central canal of spinal cord; co., ccelom; g, gut; g.w., wall of gut; s.c, spinal cord; y.s. t yolk sac. 

Questions on the figure. — What is the relation of the yolk sac to the digestive 
cavity? Which of the embryonic layers surrounds it? In what way is the abun- 
dant yolk in the yolk sac brought into the circulation of the embryo (see reference 
texts) ? 



440. Reproduction and Development. — Reference has al- 
ready been made to the fact that the right reproductive organs 
of the female birds are much reduced or wanting. The ovum 
is always large, containing abundant yolk. When mature it 
breaks from the ovary, enters the funnel-shaped end of the 
oviduct and as it passes outward is fertilized. It then receives 



AVES 4O9 

a layer of albumen, and later is surrounded by a membranous 
covering and by a porous, limy shell, all of which are secreted 
by the walls of the oviduct. The protoplasm is confined to a 
small germinal disc and segmentation is discoidal, resulting in 
a blastoderm like that of reptiles. In the newly laid egg cleavage 

Fig. 208. 
am.c arrf 




Fig. 208. Diagram of a longitudinal section through the embryo of a fowl, showing formation 
of amnion and allantois and the relation of these membranes to the embryo. The boundaries are 
as in the preceding figure, am 1 , inner or true amnion; am 2 , outer or false amnion; am.c, amniotic 
cavity; ah, allantois; c.c, central canal of the spinal cord; co„ ccelom; g, gut; ys., yolk sac. 

Questions on the figure. — Which of the three embryonic layers enter into the 
amniotic folds ? Which go to form the allantois ? Show that the cavity between 
the true and false amnion is "extra-embryonic" ccelom. How is the amniotic 
cavity lined? With what is the yolk sac lined? The cavity of the allantois is in 
reality a portion of what cavity? Which of these membranes unite in mammals to 
form the chorion (see §462). 

is well advanced. After the egg is laid, cleavage is checked 
until the necessary temperature for further development is 
supplied either by the brooding of the parent or by some special 
device. Owing to the action of gravity on the heavier yolk 
the living disc is always directed upward, — the position most 
favorable for getting the warmth of the parent's body in incuba- 



4io 



ZOOLOGY 



tion. For the details of further development the student must 
be referred to more extensive texts, but it may be stated that 
the blastoderm comes to consist of two layers of cells which 
have been likened to two watch glasses so placed as to enclose 
a shallow cavity. The outer layer is ectodermal and is continu- 
ous at the edge with the inner, which is composed of larger cells 
incompletely separated from the yolk beneath (Fig. 13, C, 4). 
This inner layer gives rise to both entoderm and mesoderm. The 
blastoderm continues to grow at the margins until the yolk is 
entirely enveloped by a' living membrane which is well supplied 
with blood vessels and serves to extract the food for the use of the 
embryo and to aerate the blood before the lungs become of use. 

Fig. 209. 




Fig. 209. Archceopteryx lithographica, an early reptilian Bird. From Claus. 

Questions on the figure. — What in the figure shows this to be a bird? What 
shows it to be different from typical birds? What is signified by each of the terms 
in its scientific name? 



The amnion and allantois (see §423; Fig. 208) are both de- 
veloped as in reptiles. Of these the amnion appears first. By 
a study of Figs. 207 and 208, together with others in the reference 
texts, it will be seen that the amnion is an outgrowth of the body 
wall of the embryo and has a cavity continuous with the ccelom. 
The outer layer is known as the false amnion; the inner is the 
true amnion (Fig. 207, am 2 , am 1 ). Into the space between the 
amnion-layers the wall of the gut evaginates, forming the al- 
lantois (Fig. 208, a/.). The cavity of this sac is continuous 
with the lumen of the gut. The embryo thus becomes com- 



AVES 



411 



pletely surrounded by protective membranes. The cavity 
between the true amnion and the body wall (Fig. 208, am. c.) 
is the amniotic cavity and may be filled with a fluid. 

441. Classification of Aves. 

Subclass I. ArchcEornitkes. — These are extinct birds related 
to the extinct reptiles — the dinosaurs — in having a vertebrated 
tail, and jaws bearing teeth. Each vertebra of the tail possessed 

Fig. 210. 







Fig. 210. Apteryx australis. From Romanes. 



Questions on the figure. — What peculiarities does this bird present? What 
does Apteryx mean? What is the distribution of this species? What are its 
nearest relatives among the birds? 

a pair of feathers, the tail thus having a row of rectrices on 
either side. 

Archaeopteryx, of which three specimens have been found in 
the lithographic quarries of Bavaria, represents the group and 
was about the size of a crow (Fig. 209). 

Subclass II. Neornithes (modern birds). — This group is 
characterized by the reduction and fusion of the tail vertebrae 
in such a way that the tail feathers (rectrices) are arranged 
in a semicircle (or sometimes wanting). Teeth are wanting 
except in some extinct forms, which stand intermediate between 
the Archaeornithes and the recent birds. 

Division I. Ratitce (flat). — These are running birds with a 



412 



ZOOLOGY 



fiat breast bone (i.e., no keel) and with all the organs of flight 
much reduced. The barbs of the wing and tail feathers are not 
held together by barbules, thus producing plumes. 

The Ratitae are the lowest forms of living birds and include 
the ostriches, emus, cassowaries, in all of which the wings'are 
reduced, and the Apteryx or wingless bird of New Zealand (Fig. 
210) in which they are very rudimentary. The ostrich (Fig. 

Fig. 211. 




Fig. 211. Ostrich (Struthio). From Wood's Natural History. 

Questions on the figure. — Which of the types of feathers of ordinary birds 
become the plumes in the ostrich? What is the real size of the ostrich? 



211) is the largest and most powerful of living birds. Ostriches 
are somewhat gregarious, and frequent regions more or less 
desert. At mating time they unite in pairs, the male assisting 
in incubating the eggs, which are laid in holes in the sand. 
Ostrich culture is an important industry in South Africa and 



AVES 413 

to a certain extent in America, on account of the plumes which 
are extensively used as ornaments. Besides the types men- 
tioned there are a number of extinct forms belonging to this 
division, some of which have become extinct in recent time. 
jEpyprnis is one of these, formerly a native of Madagascar, 
where remnants of its eggs have been discovered showing that 

Fig. 212. 




Fig. 212. Wood Duck (Aix sponsa). Photographed by Dr. J. W. Folsom. 

its volume was about six times that of the ostrich egg, i.e., 
having a capacity of about two gallons. 

Division II. Carinatce (with a keel). — Birds with the keeled 
breast bone, the wings, and the other organs of flight usually 
well developed. Barbs of the feathers have barbules. All the 
modern flying birds are embraced in this group. 

The further subdivisions of the Carinatae, as given in the 
recent classifications, based upon internal structure, are regarded 
by the author as unsuited for beginners. An older arrangement 
of the' principal orders, based upon habits and certain super- 
ficial features, is presented below for the convenience of the 



414 



ZOOLOGY 



student. It should be remembered, however, that the classifi- 
cation is not the best possible, inasmuch as forms in reality not 
very closely related in structure are, according to it, placed 
together because of similar habits. The student is asked to 
refer to other texts for different arrangements. Some of the 
important orders are as follows : 

Fig. 213. 




Fig. 213. — Ross's Gull (Rhodostethia rosea). Upper figure adult male; lower, young female. From 
"Chapters on Natural History"; drawn by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt after Ridgway. 

Questions on the figure. — What indications of structural adaptation to habits 
do you find in the figure ? What sexual dimorphism is perceptible ? 



The Pygopodes (feet on the rump) include the auks, grebes, 
and loons. These are all aquatic birds and are expert divers 
and swimmers. Their feet are poorly adapted for the land, and 
in consequence the birds are awkward. Auks have poorly 



AVES 



415 



developed wings. Loons however are good fliers. Auks and 
puffins are marine forms. The loons and grebes are found in 
fresh waters and use flags and rushes for nests. 

Fig. 214 




Fig. 214. Green Heron (Butorides virescens virescens). Photographed by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 

Questions on the figure. — To what order of birds does the heron belong? 
What are its nearest relatives? What can you say of the habits of the order? 



The Longipennes {long-winged) are the tern, gulls, etc. 
These are aquatic birds with webbed feet and long, pointed 
wings. They are splendid fliers and mostly good swimmers. 
There are both marine and fresh- water types. They are gre- 
garious, especially at the breeding season, when they swarm on 
sandy shores, in the marshes, or on the rocky coasts, where they 
lay their eggs in crude nests or on the bare rocks. They are 
the most common birds of the seashore and the high seas. 

In the Steganopodes (web-footed) are included cormorants, 
pelicans, etc. These are large water birds in which the legs are 



416 



ZOOLOGY 



usually long and the feet suited to wading and swimming. 
They are heavy eaters, living largely on fish. They are often 
expert fishermen, — the white pelicans acting in concert in driv- 
ing the fish before them into shallow water, where they capture 
numbers of them in a capacious pouch of the lower jaw. The 
flamingos are long-legged, wonderfully colored birds with most 
interesting gregarious nesting habits. 

Fig. 215. 




Fig. 215. 



A right lateral view of the skull of the American Flamingo (Phcenicopterus ruber) 
Photographed from specimen by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 



Questions on the figure. — Distinguish upper and lower jaws, comparing 
them as to massiveness. Is this the usual condition in birds? How much of the 
skull is occupied by the brain? To what habits of the flamingo is the form of its 
beak an adaptation? Compare with Fig. 219. 



The Anseres (geese). The geese, ducks, and swans are 
familiar because of their widespread migrations and because of 
numerous domestic varieties. They have heavy bodies and 
characteristic form (Fig. 212). Three toes are united by the 
web. Their bills are broad and serrate. They feed upon vege- 
tation and the smaller water animals. Their wings are long and 



AVES 



417 



broad, and they are good fliers. The ducks and geese spend 
their winters in the tropics and nest in the colder regions. 
They are much hunted by man during these migrations, when 



Fig. 216. 




Fig. 216. Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos). By Folsom. 

Questions on the figure.— What is the nature and purpose of the fold beneath 
the jaw? To what division of the birds does the pelican belong? 

they frequent the streams and lakes of the temperate regions. 
They are found the world over. There are said to be about 
forty species^and subspecies of ducks, eighteen species and sub- 
27 



4i8 



ZOOLOGY 



pecies of geese, and three species of swans native to North 
America north of Mexico. 

PaludicolcB {living in swamps). This group includes marsh 
birds which stalk about the shallow waters picking up the small 
animals to be found there. They have long legs and corre- 
spondingly long necks. The cranes, trumpeters, rails, coot, 
and gallinules are classed here. Their toes are not completely 

Fig. 217. 




Fig. 217. Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus umbellus). Photographed by J. W. Folsom. 



webbed. They are light birds in proportion to the reach of 
their neck, legs, and wings. 

LimicolcB {shore-residents) inhabit the margins of streams 
and lakes and may wade in the shallows. These are similar 
in many ways to the preceding group, but are smaller birds. 
The group embraces the snipes, woodcock, sand-pipers, plover, 
killdeer, avocets, and many others. They have slender legs 
and long bills. They are alert birds with quick, active habits, 



AVES 



419 




420 



ZOOLOGY 



protectively colored, and take promptly to cover. For these 
reasons they are "game" birds, sought by hunters. 

Raptores (robbers) are preying birds with hooked beak and 
claws, sharp vision, powerful wings, and instincts to match. 



Fig. 219. 




Pig. 219. 



Skulls of gallinaceous Birds, as Partridge, Grouse, etc. Photographed from the speci- 
mens by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. Adult, f natural size. 



Questions on the figures. — Compare thes.e skulls and note the points of simil- 
arity and dissimilarity. Find the position of eye, ear, and nares. What are the 
chief points of contrast between these skulls and that of the owl (Fig. 222), and of 
the flamingo (Fig. 215)? 



Eagles, hawks, kites, falcons, owls, and vultures may be classed 
here. They are widely distributed, and have a great range of 
size and adaptations. The vultures, including the buzzards 



AVES 



421 



and the great condor of South America, are scavengers. The 
owls are noted for their striking appearance and for their 
nocturnal habits and the adaptations associated therewith. 



Fig. 220. 




Fig. 220. Great horned-owl (Bubo virginianus virginianus). Adult female. 

life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 



Photographed from 



Questions on the figure. — What are the habits of owls? Does the figure show 
any structural adaptations to known habits? How does the standing position of 
the owl differ from that of other birds of your acquaintance? See also Figs. 221 
and 222. 



There is a strong human prejudice against the group, partly 
because some of the members attack our poultry and other 
domestic animals. Close observation shows, however, that most 



422 



ZOOLOGY 



of the species are either harmless or actually helpful because 
they destroy noxious rodents. Cooper's hawk, the sharp- 
shinned hawk, and the great horned owl are real pests. 

The GallincB (fowls) include quail, partridges, grouse, pheas- 



FlG. 221. 




Fig. 221. 



Great horned-owl (Bubo virginianus vir ginianus) . 
Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 



Young. Photographed from life by 



Questions on the figure. — Compare the young at all points with the adult. 
What are the points of difference? Of manifest likeness? 

ants, turkeys, peafowls, and the various kinds of chickens. 
These birds have a plump, characteristic form. The legs are 
mostly short or of medium length and armed with short, blunt 
claws. The beak is stout and bent slightly downward at the 



AVES 



423 



point. As a rule they do not take long flights. They nest on 
or close to the ground and they get their food there. They are 
less highly organized nervously than many birds, and more 
readily tamed. Their habits of life furthermore fit them for 
domestication. They have large broods, and in early life these 

Fig. 222. 




Fig. 



222. Skull of Owl {Strix varia varia). After Shufeldt, photographed from specimens. 
Upper figure bisected, showing brain-case; the lower from a dorsal aspect. 



Questions on the figure. — Is the owl a bird of prey? What is the position of 
the eyes in relation to the skull? Of the nares? Compare these figures with the 
head of the owl (Fig. 220), and with the skulls in Fig. 219. 



follow the mother bird closely. This instinct may linger into 
adult life and families often remain together in "coveys" 
throughout the first year, or even longer. Thus large flocks may 
be formed. Their secretive instincts, their protective markings, 
and their edible flesh make them "game" birds of first quality. 



424 



ZOOLOGY 



Before civilized man destroyed their haunts and persistently 
hunted them with his improved weapons, these were among the 
very successful wild birds. Most species are now really quite 
scarce. The only hope of preserving them is by legal protection 
at critical times or by domestication. 

Chief among the domesticated birds is the common fowl 
which is descended probably from a species native to southern 



Fig. 223. 




Fig. 223. Belted Kingfisher {Ceryle alcyon alcyon, L.). 

Folsom. 



About one-fourth natural size. By J. W. 



Asia, Gallus ferrugineus (bankiva). By breeding and selection 
almost innumerable varieties have been produced. The poul- 
try and egg industry is one of the most important in the coun- 
try, amounting to more than 700,000,000 dollars annually. In 
1920, about two billion dozens of eggs (estimated) were 
produced on the farms of this country. This is one of the great 
and reliable sources of human food. Turkeys, guinea-fowl, and 
pea-fowl contribute in less degree. 

The Columbce (doves) are in many respects similar to the 




425 



P-IG. 224. Arctic three-toed Woodpecker. From U. S. Dept. Agriculture, "North American 

Fauna." 

Fig. 225. 




Fig. 225. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccycus americanus americanus). Adult male. Photographed 
from life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. 

Question on the figure. — What are the nearest relatives of the cuckoos among 
the birds? 



426 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 226. 




Fig. 226. Clark's Crow. U. S. Dept. Agriculture: " North American Fauna. 



Fig. 227. 




Fig. 227. Nestling Crows (Corvus). From U. S. Dept. Agriculture Year-book, 1900. 



AVES 



427 



GallincB. With the doves are included the pigeons. About a 
dozen species are found in America. None of these species is 
very numerous. A century ago the passenger pigeon occupied 
the region east of the Mississippi River in great flocks number- 
ing millions of individuals. In the hope of saving the species 
there has been for some years a standing offer of consider- 
able sums of money for information of a nesting pair of this 
species. It seems to be extinct. The domestic pigeon, in its 
numerous varieties, has arisen by breeding and selection from 



Fig. 228. 



r,j 




FlG. 228. Gold-finch (Astragalinus tristis tristis). U. S. Dept. Agriculture Year-book, 1898. 

the blue rock pigeon of the Old World. In cross breeding we 
frequently get ''reversions" to this type, showing that the 
characters are being carried in the germ plasm even when the 
combinations were not such as to make them appear in the body. 

In this group the young are fed with food digested by the 
parent and regurgitated into the mouth of the helpless but 
willing young. 

The Pici {woodpeckers) have two toes directed forward and 
two backward in adaptation to the position they take in climb- 
ing. The tail may have stiff, pointed feathers with which they 



428 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 229. 




Fig. 229. Mocking Bird (Mimus polyglottos polyglottos). From Dept. Agriculture Year-book, 

1895. 



Fig. 230. 




FlG. 230. Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina). Female, one-half size. By J. W. Folsom. 



AVES 



429 



anchor when pecking or climbing. They have strong, sharp, 
chisel-like bills. By means of these they get at insects under the 
bark of trees, dig into. the tender cambium of plants, and even 
excavate cavities for nests in the timber. With their long, 
protrusible tongue they pick up insects routed out by the 
hammering of their beaks. The tapping sound is also a means of 
attracting mates. Some species bury acorns in holes they have 
made in the trees, returning for them when food supplies are 
low. 

Pig. 231. 







Fig. 231. The Meadow Lark. From U. S. Dept. Agriculture Year-book, 1895. 



They are conspicuous birds, often most interestingly colored. 
Our most common forms are the red-headed woodpecker, the 
downy woodpeckers, the flicker, the yellow-bellied sapsucker. 
The latter is an injurious species, as it opens trees to decay and 
attacks of fungi, and probably spreads such diseases. The rest 
help keep in check various insect pests. 

Near the woodpeckers are often classed the cuckoos, king- 
fishers, and toucans or hornbills. The kingfisher and rain crows 
or American cuckoos are likely to come under the observation 



43° 



ZOOLOGY 



of the student. Some species of cuckoos lay their eggs in the 
nests of other birds, where they are hatched and fed by the host. 
In return for this they are said often to cast the young of the 
proper owners out of the nest. 

The chimney-swifts, whippoorwill, and the humming birds 
are somewhat intermediate between the forms just spoken of 
and the next order. 

The Passeres (sparrow-like) is the greatest order of birds. 
It has more than sixty recognized families and more than 6,000 

Fig. 232. 




Fig. 232. Loggerhead Shrikes {Lanius ludovicianus ludovicianus) . By J. W. Folsom. 



species. About twenty to twenty-five of these families are found 
in North America. These birds are mostly small, with three 
toes in front and one behind, and adapted to perching. The 
majority are gifted with some powers of song (oscines). A 
smaller division, of which the king bird and phcebe may be taken 
as types, are known as chattering or crying birds (clamatores) . 
Among the families of oscines, which the student is most 



AVES 431 

likely to meet, are: the crow family (Corvidce; Fig. 226) including 
crows, and blue jays; the sparrows and finches (Fringillidce) , 
including also snow birds, crossbills, and grosbeaks; the oriole 
family (I derides) including orioles, bobolinks, meadowlark, and 
the blackbirds; the warblers (Mniotiltidce) , small migrating 
birds with bright colors and most interesting and attractive 
qualities; the wrens (Troglodytidce); and, finest of all, the thrush 
family (Turdidce), including the various thrushes, the robin, 
bluebirds, and many others. 

For further description of the numerous interesting families 
of Passeres the student must refer to some special book on 
birds. The study of their habits and form constitutes one of 
the most popular and entertaining subjects of natural history 
for the recreation studies of busy people. Much good, and 
some very indifferent, literature intended for guidance in such 
studies is now being produced. 

442. Relation to Surroundings. — It is easy to be seen from 
the foregoing discussion that birds, while very much alike in 
fundamental structure, have succeeded in adjusting themselves 
to a remarkably varied life. In structure this adaptation is 
shown in the size and shape of the body, in the modifications of 
such external structures as neck, beak, legs, toes, claws, wings, 
and tail. Among the instincts and habits the following have a 
large place in the adaptations of birds : the food habits, instincts 
of mating and of song, nesting and breeding instincts, care of 
young, and response to climatic changes as shown in the migra- 
tion impulses. 

Wings vary from the most rudimentary, as in the ostrich 
and apteryx (kiwi), to the powerful ones of ducks which drive 
the birds at a rate of ninety miles an hour. The tail is equally 
variable. There may be no special tail feathers, as in the kiwi, 
or the tail may be of the most striking character, as in the male 
peafowl or bird of paradise. In these extreme styles, as in 
many birds of smaller size, the tail is a sex development, the 
male usually having greater specialization. Tails of more 
normal size serve as balancers when the birds are perched and 
as rudders when they fly. 

The legs and neck are closely related in length. If the legs 



432 ZOOLOGY 

are long the neck must be of corresponding length to allow the 
head to reach the ground. Long legs are often coupled with a 
wading habit; though in the ostrich and some of the land birds 
length is associated with the running habit. • 

The feet, — including the number and position of toes, the 
character of the claws, and the presence of the web, — are a good 
index of the manner of life. The amount and arrangement of 
the web varies greatly in the different water birds. The beak 
and the feet, though separated by the extreme length of the 
animal are really three appendages which work together. Aside 
from the prime functions of the feet in walking and swimming, 
the beak and claws work in close cooperation in getting food, in 
offense and defense, and in the nest-building operations. Both 
claws and beak are strikingly adapted to the food habits. 

By means of the syrinx (§437) most birds produce sounds. 
In the higher birds (oscines) the sounds may become highly 
organized and melodious. Such songs are for the most part 
related to mating and the breeding season. The call-notes are 
more permanent though not so full of melody. By these the 
birds express such simple emotional states as fear, anger, con- 
tentment, and excitement. They are a simple language well 
understood by the other members of the species. It is probable 
that the mating songs are similarly expressions of the exuberant 
emotions of the mating time, which become sustained and 
elaborated from the pleasure they come to give the producer. 
In other words they represent a passage from the useful to the 
esthetic even for the bird himself. 

The succession of instincts which in the spring will cause 
even one-year-old birds to go with remarkable precision through 
the migration, courtship, mating, the selection of a suitable 
place and materials for nest making, egg-laying, incubation, 
feeding and protecting the young, and finally their introduction 
to the world, is at once the marvel and despair of the naturalist. 
In all these respects there is the greatest variation. Some mate 
yearly, others mate for life. Some conceal their nests with 
greatest ingenuity and build it with great care, while others lay 
their eggs in the barest possible places. They may lay one egg 
or a score. Incubation of the eggs may be performed by the 



aves 433 

female, by the male, or by both. The male may supply the 
female with food during incubation or pay no attention to the 
process. The young may be ready to leave the nest and run 
about as soon as they are hatched and dry (precocious) or they 
may be naked and helpless for days (altricial). 

The coloration of birds is most varied and interesting. They 
are to the vertebrates what the insects are to the invertebrates. 
As in insects, the color is due to pigment, to physical surface 
markings which produce luster, or to both. Males and females 
are often differently colored ; if so the males are the more striking. 
Young birds, before the sex qualities appear, are more like the 
females. 

Some birds are differently colored at different seasons. Where 
there is a difference the more highly colored feathers are pro- 
duced in the winter and spring as the mating period approaches. 
Color in birds is believed by some to be due to the high met- 
abolic activity they show. This activity is believed to pro- 
duce pigments as waste products. These come to be represented 
in the coloration of the feathers. The metabolism is more active 
at the mating season. Color may be useful to birds in two ways. 
It may serve as recognition marks by which members of the 
species may quickly recognize each other, and it possibly proves 
attractive to mates; and in some instances at least it serves for 
concealment because of likeness to the surroundings. 

The eggs of birds are frequently remarkably colored. This 
color is in the calcareous secreted shell. It is due to pigments 
secreted by certain cells in the oviduct. The color of eggs of a 
species is often as distinctive as the color of the bird. It may 
be uniform, or in definite spots, or in irregular splotches. It is 
probable that the coloration of eggs is also frequently protective. 

None of the bird's responses to its conditions is more striking 
than the act of migrating. Some do not migrate, but most do. 
The value of the instinct is clear enough. Each species has its 
own customs. The time of starting, the route, the rate of migra- 
tion, and the termini vary for different species. Usually the 
rate is not rapid. Some fly pretty steadily for considerable 
distance. The ducks work their way along the streams and 
1 akes, or from one to another. The warblers flit from forest to 
28 



434 ZOOLOGY 

forest, from tree to tree, or along the fence rows, living on the 
country. Sometimes it is just a slow retreat before the advanc- 
ing cold or progress with the advancing spring. At other times 
it may involve long flights. 

The golden plover illustrates an extreme case. They breed, 
in the arctic circle in June and July. They "winter" south of 
the equator in South America from September to March; that 
is to say during the southern summer. Their course in the north- 
ward spring migration is not fully known, but it is believed that 
they follow an overland route over northern South America, 
Central America, Mexico, Central United States and Canada 
to their Arctic breeding grounds. The return journey south- 
ward is better known. From their breeding grounds they go to 
Labrador in August. Here they feed on berries and grow fat 
after their relative fast. They work their way down to the coast 
of Nova Scotia. Here they desert the land and fly across the 
ocean to the eastern shoulder of South America. They may stop 
temporarily in the islands of the West Indies ; or they may make 
the whole distance apparently without stop. In the course of a 
few weeks they cross the equator and reach their southern- 
most terminus in Argentina. Some other species have been 
followed with equal care and have almost equal range. 

Birds have many enemies among animals. Some of the birds 
are prey to other birds. Snakes, some lizards, and many of the 
smaller mammals feed upon them whenever they can. Many 
eggs are eaten by these and other animals. During the nestling 
stage birds are in especial danger. The parents themselves are 
often taken at this time. Man himself has probably proved the 
worst enemy of the birds, which is scarcely wise or fair, since the 
birds are among his best friends. 

443 . Relations of Birds to Man. — Man has directly destroyed 
many of the wild birds for food, for their plumage, for sport, or 
because he deemed them injurious to his interests. In an in- 
direct way he has destroyed even more. Many of the birds do 
not take kindly to civilization, but prefer the quiet of unchanged 
nature for feeding and breeding. Such birds have been gradu- 
ally pushed into more limited or less favorable territories. 



aves 435 

Others have adjusted themselves to human surroundings and 
to our crops of grains and fruits. These have suffered less; 
indeed some species increase in numbers more than would be 
possible in the wild state. Still others have been domesticated, 
and by breeding, selection, and support have been greatly- 
changed and improved for human uses. The birds that have 
been domesticated are chiefly the ostriches, members of the goose 
family (ducks, geese, swans), several Gallinae (chicken, turkey, 
guinea-fowls, pheasants, pea-fowls) a few of the Raptores (as the 
falcon), the pigeons, and occasional members of other orders, as 
parrots, magpies, and a few song birds. 

The student of Zoology should not fail to familiarize him- 
self with the main types of chickens which have been developed. 
A few of the main classes of breeds are as follows: the Asiatic 
breeds, including Brahmas, Cochins, Langshans; the Mediter- 
ranean breeds, including Leghorns, Minorcas, and Black Spanish; 
the Dutch breeds, Hamburgs and Red-caps; the French breeds, 
Houdans, and Crevecceurs; the English breeds, as Orpingtons 
and Dorkings; the American breeds, as Plymouth Rocks, Wyan- 
dottes, Dominiques, and Rhode Island Reds; and fancy breeds 
as the Bantams, game birds, etc. 

The special egg breeds are the varieties of Leghorns, Minorcas, 
Spanish, and Red-caps. The meat -producing breeds are Brah- 
mas, Cochins, and Langshans. The Plymouth Rocks, Wyan- 
dottes, Rhode Island Reds, Orpingtons, and Dorkings are desir- 
able breeds for general service in both respects. 

Aside from the food values of poultry, the group of birds 
renders man most notable service in two ways, — by destroying 
noxious insects and by eating weed seeds. To be sure they do 
take some toll in cultivated grains and in fruits; but with very 
few exceptions it has been shown by examination of stomach 
contents of various species at various ages that the great bulk 
of the smaller birds are helpful to human interests, and often 
greatly so. One observer found 7 , 500 seeds of one common weed 
in the stomach of one dove. If all birds were suddenly destroyed, 
unquestionably many species of insects would at once increase 
to the point where they would be a fearful pest to mankind, 
before a new balance in nature would be struck. Mice and 



436 ZOOLOGY 

other hurtful rodents are captured by owls, hawks, and other 
preying birds. 

These facts are at the bottom of the recent agitation that 
egg collecting and the slaughter of birds for sport shall stop. A 
careful, seven year investigation of the subject yields the fol- 
lowing list of birds which do more injury than good: the Eng- 
lish sparrow, Cooper's hawk and the sharp-shinned hawk, the 
sapsucker, and the crow. Recent investigations show that the 
robin is the most numerous bird in the United States, averaging 
six pairs to every farm of 58 acres. The English sparrow comes 
second with five pairs to that area. For every 100 robins there 
were found 49 catbirds, 37 brown threshers, 28 house wrens, 
and 26 bluebirds. 

The skins and feathers of birds have been much used for 
ornament by savage men and civilized woman. The traffic 
in skins and plumes has been a very extensive and profitable 
one, and is calculated to hasten the extermination of some 
species. Laws are gradually becoming more prohibitive and 
public sentiment is coming to support them. Shooting birds 
for sport and encouraging killing them for their plumage are 
alike barbarous. The national government, the states, and 
private individuals should be encouraged to establish preserves 
where birds may not be killed. 

Because the undigested material from the digestive tract and 
the nitrogenous excretion from the kidneys are eliminated to- 
gether the manure of birds is very rich. Large deposits of this 
material, known as guano, are found along the dry coasts and 
islands on the west shore of South America. It is deposited by 
sea-birds that have lodged there for ages. The richest of these 
deposits are already exhausted. 

Of a real vital value to man are the song and color and the 
poetry of the life of birds. These esthetic features of birds and 
their wonderful habits and instincts have attracted thousands 
of people to the fields and woods. Man cannot get back to 
nature and the wild life in an open-minded and appreciative 
way without being the gainer. It is by no means a shallow 
appeal that we encourage the bird life in order that nature may 
be kept as interesting and beautiful as possible. The fact 



aves 437 

that birds are useful need not obscure the fact that they are 
interesting. 

444. Special Topics for Investigation in Field and Library. 

1. Enumerate the special structural features which seem to fit birds for suc- 
cessful flight. Compare different birds as to these features? What are the 
different modes of flight? Compare the flight of the buzzard, the woodpecker, 
the quail. What is the action of the wings in flying? Of the tail? What is the 
effect of clipping one wing? Why? The rate of flight in different species of birds. 

2. Study the group of birds from the point of view of their social and gregarious 
instincts. Are any solitary? Do any have varying social habits during different 
seasons? 

3. Make a general study of the migrations of birds, collecting the facts as to 
range, time, supposed causes, the effects on the species and its geographical distri- 
bution, the degree of exactness in routes and the place of return. 

4. Make a special study of the birds of the locality in which you are. Are 
there permanent residents? Summer residents? Winter residents? Migrants 
(those which stop only for a short time in the spring or autumn as they pass from 
south to north or the reverse) ? Keep a record from year to year of the earliest 
dates at which migrating species are seen in your locality. 

5. What diversity is there in the mating habits of birds? Are any mono- 
gamous? Polygamous? What are the mating and nesting habits of the cuckoo? 

6. Make a report as to the nest-building habits of selected species of birds. 
How do the nests differ in location, in mode of formation, in perfection? Is there 
any relation between the character of the nest and the degree of development of 
the young when hatched? What range of variation in the number of eggs? In 
the mode of incubation? The period of incubation? Care of the young after 
hatching? 

7. Compare the vocal powers of birds with that of vertebrates hitherto studied. 
Compare various types of birds as to the range and character of their notes. How 
are the notes of birds related to their states of mind ? Which are more vocal, the 
males or the females ? What explanations are offered for this ? 

8. What is the history of the English sparrow in this country? What are its 
habits? How do you account for its rapid spread? 

9. Make a special study of the local distribution of the species of birds known 
to occur in your vicinity. Which prefer the meadows? The marshes? The 
streams? The woodlands? Do the different species nest in the same regions in 
which they feed? 

10. The relation of selected species of birds to man. Are they helpful or harm- 
ful to his interests ? Has he been helpful or harmful to them ? 



CHAPTER XXIV 

CLASS V.— MAMMALIA (Mammals) 

445. Laboratory and Field Work. — Almost any of the 
smaller mammals may be used in the following exercise. Dif- 
ferent species may be taken with profit by the various mem- 
bers of a class. The chief points to be emphasized are the 
habits, instincts and external structure. 

I. Habits and Instincts. 

What are its natural haunts? What explanation can you 

offer therefor ? 
How does it protect itself from its enemies? What are its 

enemies ? Is it active at night or by day ? Reasons ? 
What are its habits as regards food ? Evidences ? 
What can you say of its power and manner of locomotion ? 

Does the manner of motion differ materially with difference 

of rate ? 
Social habits? Mating habits? Care of young and their 

condition at birth ? 
Is it scarce or abundant ? Apparent reasons ? 
What are its relations to human interests ? 

II. General Form and Structure. 

Identify the regions of the body and compare the condition 
found here with that seen in the birds. Relation of axis 
of body to appendages. Compare the anterior and posterior 
appendages at all possible points, and indicate to what ex- 
tent the work done by each is indicated by the structure. 
Examine the claws and the soles of the feet. 

Examine the body-covering, and compare the various parts 
as to color, character of hair, etc. Does the hair com- 
pletely cover the body? What is the position and use of 
"whiskers" ? Evidences for your conclusion. 

Locate all the external openings. Study the mouth with its 
contained structures; the eyes: position, color, lids (is 

438 



MAMMALIA 439 

there a nictitating membrane ?) ; ears. To what extent is 
the external ear developed ? 
III. Internal Structures. 

(The rat, rabbit, or cat will serve if it is desired to dissect a 
mammal) . The student should map out his own laboratory 
outline by reference to descriptive texts. Two fundamental 
questions should be kept in mind in all such work : How do 
the discovered structures compare with those studied in 
other animals, particularly the vertebrates ? What service 
do they render the animal and how well are they adapted to 
do the work put upon them? Make a record both by 
accurate description and by drawings. 

446. The Mammalia embrace, on the whole, the most highly 
developed vertebrates. To this group man belongs. The birds 
are more highly specialized in some respects, but the mammals 
surpass the birds in the size and convolutions of the brain, and 
in the closer relations between the mother and offspring both 
before and after birth. The form of parental care seen in the 
Mammalia is an adaptation resulting in great advantage to the 
young, and has also produced a great improvement in the 
mental qualities of the parents. The class contains forms of 
very varying appearance and perfection of development, and 
suited to almost every mode of life. Many are aquatic, in- 
cluding the largest living animals, the whales; some burrow in 
the soil, as the mole and many rodents; some live largely in 
trees, as the monkeys, squirrels, sloths, etc.; a very few, as 
the bats, have acquired the power of flight; others — the vast 
majority — live on the dry land. 

447. General Characteristics of Mammals. 

1 . Air-breathing vertebrates in which the covering developed 
by the epidermis is hair. 

2. Mammary glands in the skin of the female, by the secre- 
tions of which the young are nourished. 

3. The diaphragm, a muscular partition, completely sepa- 
rating the body cavity into two, a thoracic and an abdominal. 

4. Quadrupeds, with a few exceptions. 

5. Heart four-chambered; temperature of the blood not 



440 ZOOLOGY 

determined by that of the surrounding medium; red blood 
corpuscles not nucleated; one (the left) aortic arch persisting. 

6. Two occipital condyles. 

7. Chiefly viviparous (Prototheria are oviparous); foetus 
nourished during early development in the uterus of the mother, 
often being closely connected therewith by a complex structure 
known as the placenta. 

448. General Survey. — There are two subclasses of mam- 
mals, Prototheria and Eutheria, which differ in mode of repro- 
duction and in degree of development. 

1. The Prototheria are the lowest and are characterized 
by the fact that they lay eggs, like reptiles and birds; there is a 
cloaca into which the alimentary, urinary, and genital canals 
open; the milk glands are poorly developed. The class is rep- 
resented by the duck-mole, — an aquatic form, and the spiny 
ant-eater, — both natives of Australia and neighboring islands 
(Fig. 238). 

2. The Eutheria, Division Didelphia (Marsupials) possess a 
marsupium or pouch, a fold of the skin into which the pre- 
maturely born young are placed and nourished until able to take 
care of themselves. The period of gestation is short and the 
connection between the embryo and the wall of the uterus is 
slight. In the group are embraced the kangaroo and other 
Australian forms, and the opossums of America. It is an 
interesting fact that the native Australasian Mammalia all 
belong to the Prototheria and the Marsupials (see Figs. 52, 62). 

3. In the Division Monodelphia (Placentalia) there is a 
placenta or mass of closely interwoven maternal and embryonic 
tissue which unites the foetus with the wall of the uterus, by 
which arrangement the young gets its food and oxygen from the 
blood of the mother. The young are retained much longer in 
the uterus, and are consequently much more mature when 
born. All the common mammals belong to this group, which is 
distributed over the habitable part of the earth. 

449. Form. — The axis of the body is usually separable into 
head, neck, trunk, and tail, — though the last may be reduced 
to a very small number of segments. The proportions of these 



MAMMALIA 



441 



parts of course differ much and are to be connected with the 
habits of life. Most of the Mammalia are quadrupeds (except 
the allies of the whales, the porpoises, and the sea-cows) ; and 
all except man, and some of apes most like him, have the axis 
of the body in a horizontal position supported by all four 
appendages, or by the medium. The aquatic types — whales, 
porpoises, etc. — become more or less fish-like in form, in adapta- 







Fig. 233. Diagram of Skin in Mammals, by Folsom. > 

tion to the medium. There is an enormous range in size in 
the group, — from the mice to elephants and whales. 

450. Supplementary Topics for Laboratory and Field Work. — Compare the 
relative size, length, etc., of head, neck, trunk and tail of various types of mammals, 
— using well known animals and the figures and descriptions of less familiar ones. 
Can you find any signs of connection between any of these facts and known habits 
of the animals studied ? 



442 ZOOLOGY 

Compare the anterior with the posterior appendages in a selected series of 
mammals, keeping in mind the following points: size, length, strength, uses; the 
number and character of- the digits. Compare similarly the corresponding (i.e., 
anterior with anterior) appendages in another series. Keep in mind, throughout, 
the adaptations of structure to the conditions of life, method of locomotion, etc. 

451. Integument. — The skin, as in forms already described, 
consists of two portions, — an ectodermal portion, the epidermis, 
and the dermis or true skin which is derived from the mesoderm 
(Fig. 233). Hair is found in the young of all mammals, though 
it may be wanting in the adult (as in whales), or may occur only 
sparsely. Hair is produced by the epidermis, but is nourished 
by a papilla of dermal tissue (Fig. 233, /). Each hair consists 
of a central part, or pith, surrounded by a denser cornrfied por- 
tion, the cortex. Hair differs much in color and in structure, — 
from the soft fur of the seal to the quills of the hedgehog and 
porcupine. Hair is, considered as morphologically similar to the 
feathers of birds and the scales of reptiles. 

To be considered in the same connection with hair are the 
nails, claws, and hoofs, the scales on the tail of the rat or beaver 
and on the body of scaly ant-eaters, and the horny material of 
horns of cattle and of rhinoceros. The whalebone of certain 
whales is also an epidermal product in the roof of the mouth. 

452. Supplementary Studies for Field and Library. — What is the economic 
value of the skins of mammals? How are they prepared for the uses to which they 
are put? What animals are prized for their hairy products (fur, wool, etc.)? 
What special qualities must the hair have to be useful in making cloth ? 

What instances can you adduce of advantageous coloring in the hair of mam- 
mals? What variations of color may be found within a single species? What 
changes of color are possible to a single individual? How are these changes 
brought about? What peculiar qualities have the quills of the porcupine? 

453. Integumentary Glands, derived from the epidermis, 
are common in mammals. Associated with the hairs are the 
oil glands. Over various parts of the body are long tubular 
sweat glands buried in the dermis. There are also integumen- 
tary glands producing characteristic odorous substances. These 
may be for recognition within the 'species, or for protection from 
enemies. The tear glands of the eye are modified cutaneous 
glands. 

The mammary glands, which are characteristic of the group, 
are specially developed skin glands, apparently more allied to 









MAMMALIA 443 

the sweat glands in their secretion. They are much lobed, and 
usually have teats or nipples ; but in the monotremes these are 
wanting, and the young merely lick the secretion from a ' ' milk 
area." The glands may be distributed along the entire ab- 
dominal surface (carnivora) or confined either to the anterior 
(primates) or posterior portion (ruminants) . The number of 
the milk glands is correlated in a general way with the number 
of young produced at a birth. 

454. Skeleton. — Some of the more elementary facts concerning the skeleton 
may be summarized as follows. The vertebrae usually unite by flat faces, and the 
five regions of the vertebral column (see §349) have a fair degree of constancy as to 
numbers. The neck, with a very few exceptions, has seven vertebrae, the length 
of the neck depending on the length of the vertebrae and not on their number. The 
trunk vertebrae, made up of the thoracic and lumbar, usually vary within the limits 
I 9~ 2 3- The caudal vertebrae are most variable of all. The bones of the skull in 
the adult have their edges closely united by means of sutures (a species of close 
joint, which does not allow of motion). The lower jaw, the hyoid bone, and the 
small bones of the ear are the only movable bones in the mammalian skull. The 
lower jaw articulates directly with the cranium. The quadrate, which in reptiles 
and birds serves to articulate the jaw with the cranium, has apparently changed 
its position and given rise to one of the small bones of the middle ear. 

The pectoral girdle and arm bones are always present, but in the whales and 
sea-cows the posterior are lacking. The digits are typically five in number. In 
many carnivores these may be reduced to four, terminating in claws. In the hoofed 
forms the toes are often reduced to four, three, two, or even one (the horse). In 
such cases rudiments of the remaining digits may occur in the form of splints. 

455. Teeth. — The teeth are produced by the skin, and come 
to be lodged in pits in the bones of the jaws. While differing 
in shape, the teeth always possess the crown, the fang or root, 
the neck and the pulp-cavity. The bulk of the tooth is dentine 
deposited by the dermis. Over this is a layer of enamel formed 
by the epidermis. The teeth differ from horny outgrowths in 
that both layers of the skin are involved. In this respect they are 
like the scales of fishes and the plates of the armadillo. 

The cavity is more or less filled with "pulp tissue" which is 
supplied with nerves and blood vessels. Most mammals have 
only two sets of teeth, — a milk set which appears early and is 
lost and a permanent set which replaces the former. In some 
cases, however, there is only one set, and in a few {e.g., certain 
whales) no teeth appear above the surface of the gums in the 
adult. 

In the porpoises, dolphins and similar forms the teeth are 



444 ZOOLOGY 

numerous, simple, and very much alike, but in the majority 
of mammals there are at least three types of teeth. In the front 
of the upper jaw (on the premaxillary bones) are simple, chisel- 
shaped teeth, the incisors; behind these (the first tooth on the 
maxilla) is the canine tooth, usually pointed and adapted for 
tearing; posterior to the canines are the grinders or molars. 
Those grinders which replace milk teeth are sometimes called 
premolars. The true molars do not have any representatives 
in the milk set. The corresponding teeth in the lower jaw are 
similarly named. The typical number of teeth is forty-four, 
eleven in each half -jaw. This may be shown by a formula in 
which the numerator indicates the number of each kind in one- 
half of the upper jaw and the denominator a similar portion 

of the lower: i. -. c. ■-, p. -, m. -. = 44. This means that there 

3 14 3 
are three incisors, one canine, four premolars, and three molars 
in each half jaw, both above and below. The dental formula 

212 3 
for adult man is: i. -, c. -, p. -, m. *. = 3.2. This may be written 
21*2*3° 

212"? 

more simply . The numbers are not always the same in 

^ J 2123 J 

the upper and lower jaw of mammals. 

456. Supplementary Studies. — Let the student determine by examination, 
and write the dental formulae of the cat, dog, horse, cow; milk set in man. 

Compare the molars of some carnivorous animals with those of some herbivo- 
rous; similarly the canines. Describe the action of the jaws in the act of chewing in 
the dog, cow, rabbit, horse. 

457. The Digestive Organs present the same regions and 
general arrangement found in the typical vertebrates. There 
are usually fleshy and movable lips covering the teeth. Some- 
times these are much extended and in connection with the nose 
may become important organs (snout, proboscis) for the capture 
of food. The stomach varies widely but is ordinarily a simple 
sac with muscular walls. Sometimes it is partly separated into 
chambers by folds (Figs. 234, 235). This reaches its greatest 
complexity in the ruminants, in which four chambers occur 
(Fig. 235). One of these — the rumen — becomes a temporary 
receptacle for the food which is first swallowed without being 



MAMMALIA 



445 



chewed. This peculiar structure is correlated with the habit 
of rapid feeding and retirement to less dangerous or exposed 
locations, where the food is forced back to the mouth in appro- 




Pig. 234. Diagram of stomach of dog (A) and rat (B). After Wiedersheim. 




Fig. 235. Diagram of stomach of Ruminant. After Wiedersheim. 

Questions on the figure. — What is the significance of the term ruminant? Of 
what conceivable advantage is this form of stomach? What animals belong to the 
class? 

priate quantities and chewed at leisure. When swallowed the 
second time the food passes on to the glandular divisions of the 
stomach. 

The liver and the pancreas pour their secretions into the 



446 



ZOOLOGY 



small intestine near its anterior end. The small intestine is 
very much shorter in flesh-eating animals than in the vegetable 
feeders. At the junction of the small and large intestine there 
is a blind pouch or sac (ccecum) terminating in a projection 
(vermiform appendix) which is large in the Herbivora, but in 
man is a mere rudiment. In man its function is obscure. 
It is often the seat of serious infection and inflammation. 

Fig. 236. 




v.c. — = 



Fig. 236. Diagram of the heart and chief vessels in the mammals, ao., aorta; a.l., left auricle; 
a.r., right auricle; c, carotid artery; d.a., dorsal artery; p.a., pulmonary artery; p.v., pulmonary 
vein; s, subclavian artery; v.c, vena? cavse (pre-caval and post-caval); v.L, left ventricle; vs., right 
ventricle. 

Questions on the figure. — What kind of vessels communicate with the auricles? 
What with the ventricles? What is the position of the valves? Trace the direc- 
tion of the blood flow in the various parts of the blood vessels figured. What is 
the distribution of the veins and arteries shown here, i.e., to what organs do their 
minuter branches go? 



458. Circulatory System. — Mammals are warm blooded, but with lower tem- 
perature than is found among the birds. It ranges from 35 to 40 C. The heart 
is completely four-chambered as in birds, the left side containing pure blood and 
the right impure (Fig. 236). The aorta, arising from the left ventricle, has only 
one arch — the left, whereas only the right is found in birds. The general compari- 
son of the conditions in vertebrates may be seen from the table on page 344. There 
is an hepatic-portal, but no renal-portal, circulation. 

The lymphatic vessels are an important part of the circulatory apparatus in 
all vertebrates. Under the pressure that exists in the arteries, some of the fluid 
portion of the blood finds its way through the walls of the capillaries into the spaces 
among the tissues. This cannot get back into the minute veins, and hence special 
vessels are provided to get it back into the circulation. Starting with the irregular 



MAMMALIA 447 

spaces in the tissues, in which the lymph collects, we find vessels less regular than 
the veins, often running together and then rebranching, gradually approaching 
the body cavity. On their route they pass through knots of special tissue — lym- 
phatic glands, where colorless amoeboid cells are added. Special lymphatics — the 
lacteals — gather food from the intestines and, uniting with the general lymphatics, 
finally empty into the large veins in the neck region. The escaped lymph is thus 
returned to the blood. 

459. The Respiratory Structures differ from those of birds 
chiefly in the fact that they are confined to the anterior or 
thoracic cavity, in which they hang freely, suspended by the 
bronchi. There are no air-sacs outside the lungs, hence all 
the air passages terminate in the alveoli, in the walls of which 
are the pulmonary capillaries. Inspiration and expiration of air 
is affected by increasing and decreasing the size of the chest cavity 
by means of the muscles between the ribs and by the contraction 
of the muscles of the diaphragm which is normally arched for- 
ward into the chest. By its contraction the viscera are forced 
backward and more space is given to the lung, which at once 
fills the chest cavity as the result of air-pressure on the inside 
of the lung. 

460. Nervous System. — The special feature worthy of note 
in the nervous system of mammals is the large size of the brain, 
especially of the cerebral hemispheres. In the higher mammals, 
particularly, these become complicated by folds and convolu- 
tions by which the surface or cortex of the brain is much in- 
creased. The brain cells, or gray matter of the brain, are espe- 
cially abundant in the superficial part, and therefore this in- 
crease of surface means that these cells are increased in amount 
as compared with other vertebrates. The intelligence of an 
animal is roughly proportional to the amount of the cortex. 
The cortex is a thin layer, varying from one to five millimeters 
in thickness. It has been estimated that there are about 9,000,- 
000,000 nerve cells in the cortex of a human brain. These nerve 
cells represent about one five-thousandth of man's total weight, 
and yet they furnish the basis for the conscious life and the con- 
trol of the body. The fibrous tracts connecting the various por- 
tions of the cortex are likewise more perfectly developed among 
the mammals, and most of all in man. 



448 ZOOLOGY 

The organs of special sense are similar to those in the birds. 
The ear becomes more complicated. There is usually a well- 
developed external ear, or pinna, in the terrestrial forms, which 
is often movable and serves to gather the sound waves. The 
membranous labyrinth of the internal ear becomes more com- 
plicated than in any of the lower forms. This is especially 
true of the cochlea, which is spirally coiled. The middle ear is 
bridged by a series of three bones, instead of one or two as in the 
lower groups of vertebrates where such connection exists at all. 



461. The Urinogenital Organs. — As in the other vertebrates there is close 
connection between the excretory and reproductive organs in mammals. The bean- 
shaped kidneys communicate by ureters with a median urinary bladder, which in 
turn has the urethra leading to the outside. The urethra also serves as the outlet 
for the sperm in the male. The testes, which in other vertebrates lie in the body 
cavity, pass backward and descend into a fold of the skin, in the majority of mam- 
mals. In the female, the ovaries are in the abdominal cavity, and when the ova 
are ripe they break forth into the cavity and pass into the fringed, funnel-shaped 
mouth of one of the two oviducts. The oviducts may be completely distinct, 
opening separately into the vagina (as in most rodents), in which case each has a 
special portion in which the young are retained during early development {uterus) ; 
or there may be found various degrees of union of the uterine portions until there 
is a single uterus into which the two oviducts empty (as in man). 



462. Reproduction and Development. — All the mammals 
except the monotremes are viviparous. Impregnation may take 
place in the oviduct or in the uterus. In the Monodelphia the 
ova are small and have little yolk, whereas in the Prototheria 
there is much yolk, as among the birds. The segmentation in 
the placental mammals is complete but not necessarily equal. 
A solid sphere of cells is formed which becomes differentiated 
into an outer enclosing layer (the trophoblast, Fig. 237) and an inner 
mass of cells (Fig. 237, ent.). This mass of cells gives rise to the 
embryonic layers, from which are produced the adult organs. 
The trophoblast has little or no part in the formation of the 
embryo proper, but has a part in forming the foetal membranes 
so important in the group . The steps of embryonic development, 
while similar in general to those described for the other Verte- 
brata, are modified by the absence of the yolk and the retention 
of the developing egg in the body of the parent. The embryonic 



MAMMALIA 



449 



membranes — amnion and allantois — occur as among birds, but 
their fate is somewhat different. The allantois typically fuses 
with the outer layer of the amnion (false amnion Fig. 208, am 2 ) 
and the trophoblast (see above), and this combined tissue, the 
chorion, becomes connected with the wall of the uterus by out- 
growths or villi. These become closely associated v with the 
tissues of the mother. This combination of maternal and 
embryonic tissues is called the placenta, and is the characteristic 
organ of the Monodelphia or true mammals. 

It is by means of these united tissues that food and oxygen 
pass from the blood of the mother into the blood of the embryo. 
In the marsupials the attachment is very slight, and for this 

Fig. 237. 



ect 



B / 





ent. 



in. 




Fig. 237. Diagram of Segmentation of ovum in mammals. A, ovum; B, showing the early 
differentiation into an outer layer which produces the trophoblast (see p. 447), and an inner mass 
which produces the embryo; C, a later stage, ect., ectodermal portion of embryo; ent., cells destined 
to produce entoderm; in., inner mass of the cells which form the embryo; o, outer layer which 
forms t, the trophoblast. 

Questions on the figures. — How does this differ from the segmentation in the 
sea-urchin? What is the fate of the trophoblast? Examine reference texts and 
learn how the ectoderm, entoderm, and mesoderm of the real embryo (the inner 
mass of cells) are formed. 



reason ' uterine nutrition becomes insufficient relatively early 
and the young must be provided for in some other way. The 
marsupium, in which the milk glands open, presents the solution 
of the problem of later development of the foetus. So at birth 
the immature young of marsupials are placed by the mother in 
the pouch. It is important to remember that the blood vessels 
of the mother and the embryo are not continuous. The blood 
29 



45° 



ZOOLOGY 



of the embryo is developed in the same manner as its other tissues 
and is not derived from the mother directly. The two blood 
currents interchange materials. by osmosis through the capillary 
walls. There is no direct continuation of nervous tissue across 
from the mother to the young. Notwithstanding this lack of 
direct connection each exerts a very profound effect upon the 
other. It is known that the embryo secretes materials which 
passing into the blood of the mother produce the growth of the 
mammary glands that leads finally to lactation. Proper nutri- 
tion, malnutrition, endocrines, or poisons in the blood of the 
mother greatly influence the growth and normality of the 
offspring. 

463. Classification of Mammals. — In the introductory sur- 
vey in §448 the three subclasses have already been outlined. 
Subclass I. Prototheria, Order Monotremata. — Mammals 

Fig. 238. 




Fig. 238. Duck-bill (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). Photographed by Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — What are the peculiarities of Ornithorhynchus? 
What does the structure of its feet indicate as to its habits? 



whose mammary glands have no nipples; they lay eggs with 
abundant yolk, which are hatched outside the body, as in birds. 
The alimentary canal ends in a cloaca. One ovary is sometimes 
incompletely developed as in birds, and the oviducts open 
separately into the vagina. The duck-bill or duck-mole 



MAMMALIA 45 1 

lives in water, or burrows in the banks of streams or lakes. It 
is eighteen or twenty inches long and is covered with soft fur, 
Its eggs are laid in its burrows. Echidna or the spiny ant-eater, 
lives in rocky places and captures ants by means of its slender, 
sticky tongue. They are confined to Australasia and are in- 
teresting chiefly because of their likeness to the reptiles and 
birds (Fig. 238). 

Subclass II. Eutheria: Division I, Didelphia, Order Mar- 
supialia. — Mammals with nipples; these occur in the pouch on 
the ventral surface of the body in which the immature young 
are placed at birth. The young are too immature to suck vol- 
untarily at first, and milk is forced into the mouth by the action 
of muscles about the gland. The pouch is usually supported by 
two bones attached to the pubis and extending forward. There 
are two oviducts, two uteri, and even the vaginae may be paired 
(Figs. 52, 62). 

Many different types are included in this group. Some are 
rat-like in appearance, others similar to the dog, others to the 
bear. Some are herbivorous, some carnivorous, others insec- 
tivorous. With the exception of the American opossum fam- 
ily, the living species are native of Australasia. Fossil marsupials 
are found in all parts of the world, showing that they are an 
ancient type of mammals which have become extinct except in 
the places cited. Many of the fossil forms were of gigantic size. 
The largest living species is the kangaroo. 

Division II. Monodelphia (one uterus), Order Placentalia — 
Mammals in which the young are connected to the wall of the 
maternal uterus by means of a placenta (see §462) ; two oviducts; 
uteri more or less united into one; vagina single; no cloaca; no 
marsupium. The segmentation of the ovum is total. 

The following key will assist the student to get a view of 
the principal orders of the placental mammals : 

Teeth wanting, or without enamel Edentata. 

Teeth with enamel. 

Hind limbs wanting. 

Front appendages with elbow joint Sirenia. 

Front appendages without elbow joint Cetacea. 



452 ZOOLOGY 

Hind limbs developed. 

Nails of the digits hoof -like. 

Third and fourth digits equally devel- 
oped, others reduced Artiodactyla. 

Third digit well developed, all 

others more or less reduced Peris sodactyla. 

Five well developed digits Proboscidia. 

Nails claw-like. 

The front limbs modified to form wings, 

Cheiroptera. 
No wings. 

Thumbs not opposable. 

Incisors and canines small, 

Insectivora. 
Incisors chisel-shape and canines 

wanting Rodentia. 

Canines large; other teeth often pointed, 

Carnivora. 
Thumbs opposable Primates. 

Order Edentata (toothless). — Placentalia in which the teeth 
are absent or imperfect, being destitute of enamel and true roots 
They are found both in the Old World and in the New, especially 
in the tropics of the southern hemisphere. The chief repre- 
sentatives are the sloths and the hairy ant-eater of Central and 
South America, the armadillo of South America and as far north 
as Texas, and the scaly ant-eaters of Asia and Africa. The 
sloths are sluggish vegetarians living in the trees, on the branches 
of which they hang or climb, back downward, by means of their 
long curved claws. The ant-eaters are almost wholly devoid of 
teeth, but have narrow extensible tongues which they project 
into ant-holes, capturing the ants by the sticky saliva. The 
group furnishes a noteworthy exception to the statement that 
the mammals lack an external skeleton. Overlapping bony 
scales, or plates in the form of rings, may furnish a complete 
armor by means of which they are kept from extermination in 
spite of their inoffensive, sluggish habits. This is best seen in 
the armadillo. 



MAMMALIA 453 

Order Insectivora (insect-feeders). — These are small mam- 
mals with clawed digits, which feed on insects and other small 
invertebrates. The brain is small and smooth. The incisors 
are small. Many burrow, and have special adaptations for 
such a life; among these one of the most interesting is the de- 
generation of the eyes. The moles, shrews and hedgehogs are 
the chief representatives. The moles have the reputation of 
eating corn and other planted grains. Their burrows frequently 
follow the rows. Their food, however, is the insects that collect 
about the planted grain. They do much damage to turf in 
making their burrows. A single specimen has been known to 
burrow twenty yards in a day. For brief periods and in reason- 
ably firm soil they have been seen to dig a yard in ten minutes. 

Order Sirenia. — A small group of aquatic Placentalia, 
more or less whale-like in form. They are sluggish, ungainly, 
vegetable feeders. They have no posterior appendages and the 
anterior are flipper-like, though capable of bending at the elbow. 
They live near the shore and are represented by two living genera, 
the sea-cow of our own eastern shores (Manatee), and the 
Dugong of the Indian Ocean. 

Order Cetacea (Whales, Porpoises, Etc.). — The Cetacea are 
aquatic mammals with a fish-like body. There are no posterior 
appendages, and the anterior act as paddles, being without joint. 
The tail is horizontally expanded into a powerful paddle, and a 
dorsal fin is usually present. Teeth are present in the embryo, 
but may be lost or replaced by "whale-bone" in the adult. 
The stomach is chambered. The two mammae are posterior. 
Hair is very scant, but the layer of fat or "blubber" beneath 
the skin is very thick, and serves as a non-conductor of heat. 

The whales are the largest living animals. The sulphur 
bottom- whale may reach a length of ninety-five feet and a 
weight of 150 tons. It must be remembered that the whales 
are air-breathers, and therefore must come to the surface to 
breathe or "blow." The Cetacea prey on the smaller swim- 
ming or floating animals found in the ocean, as fish, squid, 
Crustacea, etc. Whales are principally sought for their fat and 
baleen, or whale-bone. 

There are two principal suborders: the toothed whales, and 



454 ZOOLOGY 

the whale-bone whales. The former include the dolphins, por- 
poises, grampuses, narwhales, sperm whales, and beaked whales. 
The right whales, the hump-backed whale, the gray whale, the 
finback whale, and the sulphur bottom whale lose their embry- 
onic teeth and produce whalebone. Food is taken with the 
mouth open and the water is forced out through the whale-bone, 
leaving the "catch" in the mouth. 

Order Artiodactyla (even-toed). — These are hoofed animals 
with toes reduced to four or two. The third and fourth toes 
persist and bear the weight of the animal, and the second and 
fifth, if present, may or may not touch the ground. The 
mammas are distributed along the entire abdomen (hog) or are 
confined to the pelvic region (ox). 

This is a splendid group containing some of man's most 
valuable food animals. Included in it are cattle, sheep, goats, 
antelopes, elk, deer; the giraffes; the camels and llamas; the 
hippopotami; and the hogs and peccaries. The ox, sheep, goat, 
deer, and giraffe are ruminants (see p. 445). 

The chief native American forms are llama, elk, moose, 
black-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope, Rocky Mountain goats, 
bighorn, musk ox, and bison. The bison was formerly one of the 
most abundant of our American ruminants. Now there are a 
few in captivity and fewer still wild. Most of these forms are 
capable of domestication, because of their tractable disposition 
and their feeding habits. They are very valuable both for 
their hides and their food products. In addition to the flesh 
foods, milk and its products of butter and cheese are among the 
most prized of human foods. Milk, as are eggs, is a complete 
food; that is, it contains all the constituents, both organic and 
inorganic, necessary to support growth and development, as is 
shown by the fact that it is the sole supply of food for the 
young immediately after birth. 

Order Perissodactyla (odd-toed). — These are hoofed animals 
characterized by the fact that the weight of the body rests on the 
third or middle toe, the others being more or less reduced. The 
stomach is simple. There is no proboscis. The mammas are 
few and confined to the pelvic region. The most common 
examples are the horse and its allies, in which the third is the 



MAMMALIA 455 

• 

only digit, and the rhinoceros, which has the second and fourth, 
as well. It is known that the remote ancestors of the horse had a 
second and a fourth toe where only splints occur now, and even a 
first and a fifth, where now there is no trace of either. The 
horse has been domesticated as long as we have records and there 
are approximately as many breeds of horses as of chickens, — 
some half a hundred. The ass and zebra belong. to the same 
genus, — Equus. They both cross with the horse. Tapirs are 
included in this order. 

Order Proboscidea (with proboscis). — Two living and many 
extinct species of huge Placentalia with five digits, each with a 
distinct hoof. The nose is much developed into a prehensile 
organ, with corresponding changes in the skull for attachment of 
muscles. The skin is thick and loose, The upper incisors grow 
enormously, forming the tusks characteristic of the group. 
There are no canines; molars are very complex. The two teats 
are thoracic. The largest of the land mammals, the elephants 
and the extinct mastodon and mammoth, belong here. They 
are now confined to the tropical regions of Asia and Africa, 
though in geological times they seem to have had a world-wide 
range. The tusks of species of elephants, both living and 
extinct, furnish the ivory of commerce. 

Order Carnivora (flesh-eaters). — The Carnivora are four- 
or five-toed animals with the digits ending in claws. The 
canines are well developed, strong and curved. The other teeth 
are often pointed and adapted to holding or tearing. Muscles 
of mastication are especially well developed. Mammae are 
numerous, occurring along the entire abdomen. There are two 
types of Carnivora — terrestrial and marine. To the first belong 
the bear family, which is perhaps the least specialized group ; the 
dog family, including dogs, wolves, foxes, jackals; the cat family, 
including lions, tigers, leopards; hyenas; many fur-bearing ani- 
mals — as otters, weasels, minks, martens, badgers, wolverines, 
and skunks. There are many of these fur-bearing animals in 
North America. The seals and walruses belong to the marine 
group. In these forms the appendages have become adapted to 
the water habit, the digits bearing intervening webs. 

The principal American cats are: the wild cat (also called 



456 



ZOOLOGY 



bob cat and catamount), Canada lynx, the cougar (also called 
puma, panther and mountain lion), and the jaguar of Mexico 
and South America which is the largest. Our native dog-like 
carnivores are the timber wolf, the coyote, the red fox, the blue 
fox, the gray fox. We have several species of bears, — polar, 
black, grizzly, and cinnamon. 

The greatest of the cats are the tigers, which may reach a 
length of ten feet, and the lions. These with the leopard are 
Southern Asiatic and African types. 

The order embraces many very powerful and intelligent 
animals which are well adapted to win in the struggle for life, 
if it were not for human interference. In the presence of man, 
however, all those which are not suited to domestication are 
gradually disappearing; some because of their dangerous quali- 
ties, others because of the value of their products. The group 
is not used to any considerable extent as food. 

Fig. 239. 




Fig. 239. 



The Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ordii richardsoni), adult male. 
life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt. . 



Photographed from 



Questions on the figure. — What order of mammals is illustrated by this form? 
What explanations are offered as to the cause of the light color of the belly and the 
dark color of the backs of animals? Of what conceivable advantage is the differ- 
ence in coloration? How does the tail of this species compare with that of our 
common rat? 



MAMMALIA 



457 



Order Rodentia (gnawing animals). — Rodents are small 
mammals with clawed digits. They have no canine teeth, 
but have well-developed chisel-shaped incisors which continue 
to grow as they are worn at the extremity. The chisel edge is 
preserved by the fact that the enamel is chiefly in front, and 

Fig. 240. 




Fig. 240. The Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger rufivenler) . Photographed by Folsom. 

Fig. 241. 




Fig. 241. Porcupine (Erethizon). By Dr. J. W. Folsom. 

Questions on the figure. — To what order of mammals does the porcupine 
belong? What are its peculiarities of habit and structure? 

the exposed, softer dentine behind is worn away more rapidly 
by being used. The. brain is smooth. The mammae are ab- 
dominal. Rodents have world-wide distribution, and are 



458 



ZOOLOGY 



especially well represented in North America. The principal 
types are the rats and mice, many of which are close followers 
of civilized man; squirrels, chipmunks, and prairie dogs, 
gophers, beavers, hares and rabbits, and porcupines. Rodents 
feed on vegetable diet, and are destructive of many plants and 
grains which man uses for food. Notwithstanding man's 
efforts to destroy them their remarkable power of reproduction 
enables the more aggressive families to hold their own. Rats 

Fig. 242. 




Fig. 242. Flying Fox (Pteropus). U. S. Dept. Agriculture Year-book, 1898. 

Questions on the figure. — What is the structure and arrangement of the wings 
in such a form as this? To what order of mammals does this type belong? 

are among the worst of mammalian pests. They follow man 
closely and are very destructive of certain crops and of stored 
grains and other foods. Beside this the rats, and in less degree 
certain other rodents, are the carriers of the bubonic plague and 
possibly other diseases. Fleas carry the disease from rats to 
man. 

Order Chiroptera (hand-winged; the bats). — These are mam- 
mals in which flight is made possible by a web or fold of the skin 



MAMMALIA 



459 



stretching between the much extended fingers of the anterior 
appendages; between the arm, body, and the hind legs; and 
thence even to the tail. The thumb and posterior digits are 
clawed. The sternum has a keel as in birds. The mammae are 
thoracic. Bats are the only mammals capable of active flight. 
They feed on insects or fruits. The members of one family, the 
true vampires, live on blood of warm blooded animals. They 
cut through the skin with sharp front teeth and lick up the 
escaping blood. 

Bats are small animals and are chiefly nocturnal in habit, at 
which time they fly actively. During the day they seek retired 
and dark places where they hang head downward, holding on 
by their claws. Those in temperate regions hibernate during 
cold weather, often using caves for this purpose. (Fig. 242.) 

Order Primates {first or highest). — With the exception of 
man the primates are arboreal in habit. In adaptation to this 

Fig. 243. 




Fig. 243. Hand and foot of Chimpanzee. From Home and Country Magazine. 

Questions on the figure. — Which is hand, and which foot? In what respects 
do they differ? How do they differ from the hand and foot of man? In which 
is the difference from the human condition greater? What is the functional 
meaning of these differences? 



the thumb and great toe are usually opposable to the other 
digits, as in the human hand. The digits are armed with nails 
which are in some cases claw-like. The cerebrum is large and 



460 ZOOLOGY 

in higher forms much convoluted. Mammae chiefly thoracic 
(abdominal in some lower forms). The group embraces the 
lemurs, monkeys of various kinds, baboons with non-prehensile 
tails, the tailless apes most like man, and man himself. While 
the primates have produced some species with the highest in- 
telligence to be found among mammals, and man places himself 
at the head of the animal series, many of the bodily character- 
istics of the primates are rather primitive. For example, the 
habit of walking on the whole foot (plantigrade), the nails, the 
teeth, and many other structures are regarded as more primitive 
and less specialized than corresponding structures in such groups 
as the carnivores or ungulates. We are more near the center 
of the shaft of evolution. (See Fig. 251.) 
The chief divisions of the primates are: 

1. Lemuridae, or lemurs. 

2. New World monkeys, with broad and flat noses. 

3. Old World monkeys, having narrower nose with more 
bridge. 

4. The man-like apes of the Old World. 

5. Some intermediate extinct types of man. (Found in 
caves of Europe.) 

6. The Genus Homo, — modern man. 

The primates below man are found chiefly in tropical regions 
and more abundantly south of the equator. They feed largely 
on fruit and insects, though some eat birds and other small 
animals. Many of them are social, or at least gregarious, and 
their habits of life are interesting and suggestive in a high degree, 
when we consider their possible relation to the human species. 

464. Additional Notes on the Habits of Mammals. — We 

have seen that mammals have succeeded in occupying the land, 
in much less degree the water, and least of all the air. We have 
classified them as insectivorous (moles, ant-eaters, and bats) ; 
carnivorous, as the beasts of prey; herbivorous, or vegetarian, 
as the hoofed animals, rodents, and kangaroo; or omnivorous, 
as the pigs and man. They are very versatile and have domi- 
nated the earth since the tertiary epoch when they supplanted 
the immense reptiles of the earlier ages. 



MAMMALIA 46 1 

One of the most noteworthy facts in connection with the 
group is the degree of care given to the young by the parents, 
especially the mother. This is true not merely in gestation but 
after birth in the attendance of the mother to the needs of the 
young, both in supplying food and in protecting from danger. 
It must be remembered that this is done at the expense of the 
parent's safety. This means that the species may be kept alive 
by the birth of a smaller number of young, because more will 
reach maturity than if left early to shift for themselves; and, 
further, that a higher development of the young becomes possible 
owing to the increased length of youth. The degree of develop- 
ment at birth is quite variable. In a general way it is less in the 
case of those whose parents can best protect the helpless young. 
For example the young of the Carnivora and of the Primates 
are much less able to take care of themselves at birth than the 
young of the Herbivora. Many biologists have called attention 
to the fact that the greater care of the young implies higher 
instincts and intelligence on the part of the parent. Any such 
improvement is subject to the action of natural selection as an 
advantageous characteristic. In turn a longer youth or period 
of development is demanded for the maturing of these higher 
instincts, thus in turn making a new demand on the parent for 
more care and training. 

The social instinct is well represented among mammals. 
This may vary from collection in mere shoals or herds where 
food is abundant, to groups organized for offense and defense 
and for work, — as wolves, deer, beavers, and men. Indiscrimi- 
nate mating is the rule, yet in some instances strict monogamy is 
found. In many cases mates are won by force, and this tends 
to result in the selection and propagation of the strong. The 
struggle among the males is accompanied by the development 
in them of numerous structures which the females do not pos- 
sess at all or at least in such degree: — as antlers, horns, tusks, 
manes, — and greater size. 

Mammals do not have so great freedom of motion as the 
birds, and hence do not make as much use of migration to escape 
winter conditions. They tend to keep up an active life, like the 
rabbit and wolf, or hibernate, like the woodchuck. There are some 



462 ZOOLOGY 

forms however that do migrate. These migrations may be re- 
lated to the breeding habits or to food supply rather than to tem- 
perature primarily. Rats, the rat-like lemmings, fur-seal, and 
reindeer migrate. Wonderful stories are told of the lemmings 
of Sweden and their occasional fierce instinctive migrations, from 
which nothing can turn them, not even the sea, into which they 
plunge and swim until they perish. 

The hibernating mammals must find a place where they will 
not quite freeze. All their vital activities are lowered and their 
temperature falls gradually until in some instances it closely 
approaches the freezing point. Usually this state must be ap- 
proached somewhat gradually if the animal is to survive. The 
larger hibernating mammals like the bear must seek caves or be 
satisfied with a hollow log or a shallow den. Burrowing forms 
fare best, as they merely dig themselves in below the frost line. 
The smaller ones must find the safer places, since they lose their 
heat more rapidly. 

Different species vary greatly in the duration of their winter 
sleep. A few hibernate through the whole of the cold weather 
without interruption, as the woodchuck. Some may hibernate 
only in the coldest weather and for a brief time. Others wake 
up from time to time and seek food. Although the vital proc- 
esses are low they keep going. This uses up material. Since 
no food is taken, the fatty reserves of the body are drawn upon. 
Animals go into the sleep fat and come out thin. 

It is in the higher mammals that one finds the greatest dis- 
play of intelligence to be seen in the animal kingdom, and it 
is in man that intelligence and reason — whose first beginnings in 
animals no one can mark — find their culmination. That these 
high qualities are closely correlated with the great development 
of the brain there can be no doubt. The great progress of man 
in getting mastery of the earth is one of the most interesting 
aspects of the same general problem of evolution and adapta- 
tion which gives unity to the subject matter of zoology. Thus 
the sciences which pertain to man in all his various interests 
have in some measure their foundation in the science of zoology. 
(See Chapter XXV.) 



MAMMALIA 463 

465. Mammals in Relation to Man. — Mammals are not merely 
closest to man in matter of kinship, but they are his most 
valuable allies in the struggle for existence. Doubtless they were 
also his worst enemies in his earlier history. They furnish him 
meat, milk, clothing, labor, transportation, sport, and compan- 
ionship. They have always furnished his favorite game when 
he was not engaged in hunting other men. His domesticated 
animals are chiefly from this class. In most cases the beginnings 
of domestication go back to our earliest records and we can 
only guess which of the species of wild animals he began with. 
In these cases he has bred and selected them in so many differ- 
ent ways that scores of distinct varieties are now scattered over 
the face of the earth. Now that we are coming to understand 
more of the method of transmitting many of the unit characters 
(see §493) we shall be able to recombine desirable qualities 
more systematically, and doubtless new and desirable breeds 
will arise still more rapidly. 

Man has almost destroyed those fierce mammals that were 
his terror at the beginning. They are all but extinct or have 
migrated to the jungles of the tropics. There are, however, a 
number of smaller ones that he has not been able to control. 
The cat family is very much less a menace to human interests 
now than the rodents. Most of these are pests. Rats and mice 
are the most hurtful. They attack all sorts of vegetable matter 
both in the fields and in storage. Rats attack poultry. They 
gnaw and nest in all sorts of manufactured materials. There 
is no doubt that they damage hundreds of millions of dollars 
worth of materials in the United States every year. 

Rabbits in some parts of the world are scarcely less injurious. 
They attack all kinds of tender growths, and in winter may eat 
the bark from young trees as high as they can reach. These 
small rodents multiply rapidly and have become notorious pests, 
especially when introduced into new regions where their natural 
enemies were not found. Historic instances are, rabbits in 
Australia, mongoose in Jamaica and the Bermudas, and the 
rat into our own country. 

It is not always easy to classify forms as helpful or hurtful. 
Forms like wolves, coyotes, foxes, mink and weasels undoubtedly 



464 ZOOLOGY 

attack the poultry, sheep and the larger mammals that we culti- 
vate, and should be killed. In eighteen months in 191 2 and 1913 
in the state of Texas alone, were killed 98,600 wolves and wild 
cats, including 53 panthers and 22 leopards. And yet when 
the domestic animals are properly protected, most of these forms 
live upon rabbits and other rodents, and insects. The balance in 
nature is so complex that we cannot prophesy all the results that 
may come from the destruction of a species or the introduction 
of a new one. 

466. Supplementary Topics for Field and Library. 

1. Enumerate the native species of mammals known by you 
to be found in your locality, and determine to which of the 
orders t>f mammals they belong. Is the number of native species 
of mammals large or small as compared with other animals? 
Are the individuals of these species numerous or not ? How do 
you account for the facts you have discovered ? 

2. Enumerate the species of domestic mammals in your lo- 
cality. Are they related to any of the native species? Trace 
the history of some of the most important domestic types. 
What do you know of the mammals domesticated in other 
parts of the earth? 

3 . Make a report on the ruminants : their habits, their dis- 
tribution over the earth, and their uses to man. 

4. Make an investigation of the breeds of cattle, or horses, or 
goats, or sheep. Find out some of the strong and weak points 
of each breed. 

5. What is known of the geological history of the horse 
family ? Is the horse a native of America ? 

6. What is the history of the introduction of rabbits into 
Australia ? Can you cite any similar history of rodents in this 
country ? 

7. Report on furs and fur-bearing animals. What is the 
present state of the seal fisheries of our Pacific coast? What 
steps are necessary to the preservation of the seal? On what 
zoological grounds are these steps necessary? 

8. Make a report on the habits and instincts of the beaver. 
Describe the nature of its social life. 



MAMMALIA 465 

9. Report on the condition of primitive man. Which of 
man's instincts have been of most use to him in his develop- 
ment? What are the principal faculties separating him from 
the other primates ? Do all men possess these in equal degree ? 
What is the distribution of the principal races or varieties of 
the human species? What are the chief differences between 
these races ? 



30 



CHAPTER XXV 

CLASS MAMMALIA (Continued): MAN 

467. General Statement. — Man agrees, as we have seen, 
with the higher primates in all. the essential structures and 
functions which make them mammals and primates. In many 
minor details, too, he resembles them. The form of the fingers 
and the flat nails; the number and arrangement of the teeth; 
the shape of the face, and numerous other superficial things 
might be chosen to show the likeness between man and the 
higher apes. It is agreed by zoologists that there is less differ- 
ence of structure between man and the higher apes than between 
the apes and the monkeys. 

In general, man agrees with all animals in all that is necessary 
to make an organism an animal; he agrees with all the verte- 
brates in the vertebrate characteristics ; he agrees with all the 
mammals in their distinctive features ; and finally he agrees with 
the primates in the special qualities that separate them from the 
lower mammals. 

468. The Structural Distinctions Between Man and the 
Other Mammals. — Man differs from the other primates in the 
fact that he is more upright in position. This brings about a 
greater development of the hind legs and the pelvic bones for 
support and leaves the hands free to serve the individual in ways 
other than locomotion. He differs also in the size of the brain 
and in the convolutions of it. The brain of the average man 
weighs from two to three times that of the gorilla, while the 
heaviest known human brain is only twice as heavy as those of 
the lowest races of men. There is a corresponding difference 
in the shape of the head (compare Figs. 244 and 245). The great 
toe cannot be opposed to the other toes as in the case of the apes 
(Fig. 243), or as man can oppose his thumb. There is freer 
motion of the big toe, however, in newly born babes than in 
adults. The canine teeth of man are somewhat less developed, 
and the body covering of hair is not so pronounced, though the 

466 



MAN 



467 



hair on the head and face is more so. These differences, how- 
ever, except that relating to the brain, are of minor importance. 

Fig. 244. 




Fig. 244. Human skulls. — The one in heavy outline, with portions shaded, is a Caucasian skull. 
That merely outlined (in dotted line) is of an Australian negro. 

Fig. 245. 




Fig. 245. Skull of_young orang outang (dotted outline) superimposed on that of a young child. 

469. Functional Distinction Between Man and the Other 
Mammals. — While the structural differences are not sufficient 
to remove man from the group of primates, because they are 
relatively insignificant in themselves, the powers and activities 
and modes of life that have arisen from these do serve to place 
man clearly into a group of his own. These great improvements 
in powers have accompanied and are in some measure due to the 
gaining of the upright position and to the use of the hands as the 



468 



ZOOLOGY 



instrument of the brain and to the development of spoken lan- 
guage. These three things — the enlarging brain, the free and 

Fig. 246. 




Fig. 246, Skull of adult orang outang. 

Questions on Figs. 244-246. — Enumerate the similarities and the differences 
apparent in these skulls. In what respects is the negro skull intermediate between 
the orang outang and the Caucasian? Is the difference between the orang outang 
and human greater in youth or in the adult? What is the probable significance of 
this? What are the zig-zag lines in some of the figures? What is the meaning of 
the shaded area above the cheek-bone and back of the eye? How does the lower 
jaw in the higher races compare with that of the lower? The meaning of this? 

Fig. 247. 




Fig. 247. The outline of the brain of an orang outang. Adopted from Gegenbauer and Vogt 
and Gratiolet. Front portion. F to 0, cerebrum; C, cerebellum; M, medulla and spinal cord; F, 
the frontal lobe; P, the parietal lobe; O, the occipital lobe; T, the temporal lobe; R, the fissure of 
Rolando; S, the fissure of Silvius. 



MAN 



469 



flexible hands, and the growing language — would tend to train 
and improve one another. The brain working through the 




Fig. 248. Brain of Hottentot woman. From Mill's "Text-book of Animal Physiology," Copy- 
right D. Appleton & Co. Lettering as in Fig. 247. 



Fig. 249. 




Fig. 249. 



Brain of Gauss, the mathematician. From Mill's "Text-book of Animal Physiology;' 
Copyright D. Appleton & Co. Lettering as in Fig. 247. 



Questions on Figs. 247-249. — Identify and compare the cerebrum in these 
three brains. What are the chief differences ? Compare the mass in front of the 
fissure of Silvius (that is the frontal lobe), in the three. What is the reason of the 
connection between the numerous convolutions and mental development? Which 
increases more, the cerebrum or the cerebellum, as we ascend the scale? The 
meaning of this? 



470 ZOOLOGY 

mobile hands, means the making and use of tools, of dwellings, 
and getting numerous forms of mastery over nature. It is 
scarcely possible to overstate the importance of tools in human 
evolution. Each new implement is a kind of new bodily organ 
and a stimulant to greater intelligence. The brain working 
through language makes it possible to communicate experi- 
ences, and to develop ideas and the power of thinking and 
reasoning. In the more intimate parental relations brought 
about by homes, all this insures the education and training of the 
young in the discoveries of the race. The increase of the 
cerebral cortex and the closer association of the different parts 
of this cortex are in some way related to the better consciousness 
and memory in man. The use of language and the power of 
abstract reasoning have been chief agencies in the further 
increase in size and complexity of the brain. 

470. Mental Life of Man, Instincts, Habits, Reason.— 

Fundamentally, the mental life of man, no less than that of the 
lower animals, is the function of the brain and its accompanying 
systems of organs. He has the same nervous arcs by which 
stimulus, conduction, reaction, satisfactions and dissatisfactions, 
and the coordinations of these are made possible. His reflexes 
and inherited reaction patterns are much the same, and the 
appetites and feelings do not differ fundamentally. All the 
higher animals experience much the same hunger, thirst, sex 
impulses, satiety and pains. All have fears, aversions, loves 
and jealousies, and anger, — the basis of which at least is in- 
herited. That portion of these qualities and tendencies which 
is inherited we call instinctive. Much of the mental life of 
man, quite as really as in the lower animals, is of these more 
mysterious impulses (instincts) that we do not get by our own 
experiences, but which belong to our make-up in some way as an 
inheritance from the past of our ancestors. We do not always 
realize how much our own life is controlled by these inherited 
instincts. They predispose us to do certain things in particular 
ways. Much of man's life and activities is made up of habitual 
actions that have been acquired through trial and experience, 
and the crystallizing of these through memory. The child 



MAN 471 

takes his first steps in actual learning very much as the lower 
animals do. He is stimulated and he acts somewhat at random 
in a new situation. If satisfaction follows the action, it is 
repeated. If dissatisfaction follows, some other action is tried. 
Finally he hits upon a suitable action. This is the trial and error 
method of learning. 

In man, as in the higher mammals, we can modify or condi- 
tion these inherited reflexes, impulses, tendencies, and instinctive 
reaction patterns, by associating new stimuli and rewards with 
them. For example, by ringing a bell always when savory food 
is placed before a dog or a child, we can finally get the usual 
reactions to food merely by ringing the bell. Or by following 
up a normal response always by unpleasant results the instinc- 
tive reaction can be changed or broken up altogether, and 
another substituted. 

Man, however, working upon these internal feelings and the 
results of his experiences, through the play of increasing memory 
and imagination (consciousness) can compare not merely present 
sensations and objects, but also past experiences and mental 
states with those of the present. He can also consciously 
anticipate future conditions on the basis of this and plan and 
purpose to meet these in definite ways. By the power of lan- 
guage he can the better deal with abstract ideas, which in con- 
sciousness serve to replace concrete objects. In a word, he has 
gained the power of abstract reasoning and of ignoring tem- 
porarily the concrete things. He can say (or think), (1) This is 
true; (2) this is true; and (3) therefore, this is true. Starting 
from experience, he can thus reach conclusions quite beyond the 
power of experience to convey. These conclusions may of 
course be true or false; but there can be no doubt that they 
have greatly influenced and enriched human life. Through the 
use of language, again, he can make understood by others not 
merely concrete situations but even these entirely abstract 
conclusions. In this way we can substitute teaching and train- 
ing in some degree for personal experience on the part of new 
generations. 

This aspect of zoology is known as Psychology and is most 
important in all the progress we have made in discovery, 



472 ZOOLOGY 

accumulation of knowledge, art, literature, science, and ethics. 
It does not help us in solving our own problems to forget that 
all this is a part of human zoology, — and that the lower animals 
have a similar psychology, even if it is not so complex. 

471. The Social Instincts and their Result in Man. — In 
the course of our studies we have found many animals that 
recognize their kind and more or less definitely associate with 
them. This reaches a very high plane in the bees and ants. 
Similar social life is to be found in all the primates, but it is not 
so well organized among the lower primates as among the ants. 

In man, even in primitive man, these social instincts are 
well shown. They are complex, as in the bees, involving many 
factors. At the center of this complex of social tendencies are: 
(1) The sex and mating impulses, which bring together males and 
females in most interesting forms of devotion; and (2) the 
sacrificing process of reproduction and its accompanying im- 
pulses of care and affection for offspring. In man these two 
associate groups of instincts and functions lead to marriage, 
family life, and the home, which are in their turn most important 
factors in the development both of the spirit and the structure 
of human society. These are doubtless the most civilizing 
functions in our human evolution; and one of the most critical 
and practical problems before us is the conservation and im- 
provement of the home and family. Coupled with these two 
basic impulses in the making of homes, are numerous incidental 
tendencies and needs, — as a general gregariousness among 
members of the same species, the finding of shelter and comfort, 
the storing and preparing of food, and making rest and sleep 
safe. The future of our civilization depends even more on the 
proper management of the factors of sex, reproduction and 
education of the young- than upon the material and economic 
elements in the home. There is no part of human character 
and behavior in which the higher psychological elements, re- 
ferred to in the preceding section, have operated more power- 
fully than in these various attitudes underlying the home. 

In this growing complexity of society, customs and regula- 
tions and special institutions to accomplish certain ends spring 
up in a way analogous to the origin of the division of labor in the 



man 473 

bee colony. These demands of society gradually mould the 
individuals and their social ideas. Next to the hand and to 
language, probably the social relations of man have been impor- 
tant in training his mind and developing his brain. It is 
easily seen that the higher qualities of man, as sympathy, love, 
unselfishness, heroism, and self-sacrifice, are the qualities of 
mind, or "heart" as we sometimes say, that would be given 
prominence in the home and the other really social institutions. 
The study of man as he adjusts himself to his social life is known 
as Sociology. 

472. Education and its Place in Human Development. — 
Education is, in general, the development of the individual in 
such a way that he will be able to adjust and to readjust himself 
rightly, in the light of his whole nature, to the essential factors 
of his environment. This means always to make the right re- 
sponse, whatever the stimuli. This adjustment has come slowly 
in the race, step by step in the experience of each individual. 
Education in mankind is an effort to give the child a short cut to 
the best that has been discovered by the race in its history, so 
that it will not be necessary for him to get it all by experience. 
Language is again the vehicle that makes this possible. Some 
education is possible through sight and imitation of parental 
actions, and there is probably a certain amount of such education 
in many of the lower animals. Confidence in the parents, imita- 
tion, and curiosity are important individual instincts underlying 
the education of the child. The long dependence of the child 
on the parents, the close relations inevitable in the home, the 
warmth of sympathy in the parental feeling, all enter in furnish- 
ing the motive and the opportunity for the training. That this 
education is efficient is shown by the fact that the individual 
youth in a period of twenty or twenty-five years may be brought 
to a knowledge of the most important experiences of the human 
race; to a mastery of the great implements of human progress, 
as spoken and written language, knowledge of nature's laws, and 
the relations of numbers; and to an appreciation of the great, 
partly natural and largely artificial structure which we call 
human society, as well as of the modes of behavior necessary to 
meet its demands. 



474 ZOOLOGY 

These attainments have required thousands of years to 
build. Adjustment to these gains has not become instinctive. 
Education must supplement and guide the impulses of every 
new individual. It is the triumph of human education that so 
much can be imparted in so short a time. 

473. Man's Relation to Nature. — There is nothing in what 
we can learn about man that suggests that he is not just as 
dependent on the natural laws of his own being and of the en- 
vironment about him as any other animal in the animal kingdom. 
He starts in the same humble way, as a single cell; he has the 
same powers of growth and development, but he must have con- 
ditions favorable to them. To-day is always the child of yester- 
day, just as with the other animals. He has the like diseases; 
he is affected with similar parasites; he has enemies among 
the animals just as is true of the others. Equally, he depends 
on them for his food. The same struggle for existence and the 
survival of the fittest that we find in all of life can be traced in 
much of human history. 

Man, however, has made a mastery of nature which no other 
forms have been able to do. Probably through his wits and 
his supple hands, rather than by strength, he held his own 
against the powerful mammals which preceded him on the 
earth. By the same means, but in increasing degree he holds 
that mastery to-day. Through his wits, again, and his wonder- 
ful hands he has managed to use the inorganic forces of nature 
as no other animal has done or can do. Through his wits, and 
most of all through his growing sympathies and unselfishness, he 
bids fair to build up a society, based on friendship and love, 
which will substitute cooperation for competitions in the broader 
relations of life just as it has already done in the home itself. 
Only by advance in this direction can we hope to have a 
civilization which is entitled to be called humane. 

474. The Artificial Surroundings of Man. — In what we call 
civilization man has so controlled the natural conditions as to 
create for himself an environment which is greatly different 
from that under which man first lived. Clothes, houses, cities, 



man 475 

fire, seasoned foods, stimulants are terms which suggest some 
of these artificial elements that have entered into man's life. 
Just what their final effect will be on the body and mind of man 
no one can tell. Many of the most terrible diseases to which 
man is subject are the diseases of civilization. That his wits 
will continue to enable him to meet the new problems which he 
brings on himself, as he has met the natural ones, we may well 
believe. But unquestionably we must realize that his greatest 
task is to use his increasing mastery of nature in meeting the new 
difficulties which his own complex and artificial civilization is 
bringing upon him. Never has this truth been so apparent as 
during and since the Great war. 

475. The Age of Man on the Earth. — There is no sure 
knowledge of when man, in his present form, first appeared 
on the earth. It is known that man lived in Europe in the 
later portion of the Ice Age, and quite probably earlier. His 
implements of stone are found along with the remains of such 
animals as the cave-bear and mastodon and man-like apes, 
either extinct now or found only in tropical regions. Some of the 
oldest of these human remains are found in southern Europe and 
in northern Africa. For example, in a limestone cave in the 
Neanderthal in Germany, fossil remains have been found of a 
man believed to be much more primitive than any now known. 
Quite a number of individuals of this prehistoric race of men have 
been discovered. In other words this race is regarded as 
a distinct species of men; one of several now extinct types of 
men that have been discovered in various localities, some earlier 
and some later than the Neanderthal type. We have signs of 
the gradual improvement of the stone implements of men from 
rough to smooth ; the introduction of other material as bone and, 
later, copper, bronze, and iron. It is only after the thousands of 
years of this primitive, unrecorded history that we come to the 
history of such well-separated nations as those of the Euphrates 
and Nile valleys, whose monuments and inscriptions are believed 
to take us back 6,000 years or more. 

476. The Principal Types of Men and Their Distribution. — 

It is not perfectly certain that all the men of to-day should really 



476 ZOOLOGY 

be placed in one species, although if we follow them back far 
enough they may have had a common origin. The pigmies of 
Africa or the Negritos of the Philippines differ more, in a number 
of particulars, from the Caucasian than is true among many 
separate species of the wild animals, and the differences are both 
characteristic and constant. The varieties of men are innumer- 
able, but there is a tendency to group them all under three main 
heads which we may call: (i) The white or Caucasian; (2) the 
yellow or Mongolian, and (3) the black or African. To these 
are often added the red or native American, and certain island 
and peninsular types that do not agree very well with any of the 
others. The most striking external differences are: The color 
of the skin, the structure and appearance of the hair, the form 
of the nose (which is also used in distinguishing the apes), the 
form of the jaw and skull. Functionally the character of the 
language and the social institutions help to distinguish them. 
Under the Caucasian race are included the wavy-haired peoples, 
as the chief European peoples, the Egyptians, the Jews, the 
Arabs, the East Indians, and the peoples of the Caucasus who 
give the name to the race. The Mongolians include all the 
straight-haired, yellowish and brownish varieties, as the Chinese, 
Mongols, Manchus, Tartars, Japanese, Turks, Finns, and pos- 
sibly the native American tribes, as Esquimo, Indians, and the 
South and Central American peoples. The black or negro race 
includes many tropical forms dark in color and with wavy or 
kinky hair. Such are the dwarf Negrillos of central Africa; 
the Hottentots and Bushmen; the Negroes of the Nile, of the 
Senegambia, and of Guinea; the CafTres, Zulus, and other 
tribes of the east coast; and many others. 

The great number of these human races, or varieties, is an 
evidence of the long time man has been on the earth and of his 
adaptability. They have. arisen and have been increased by the 
natural tendency to vary, by the effects of climate, by migration 
and isolation, by interbreeding, by conscious selection of mates 
in accordance with local standards of attractiveness, and the like. 
This phase of zoology is known as Ethnography. 

477. The Future of the Human Race. — Study of the life of 
geological times shows us that no species is permanent. Each 



man 477 

species increases to a maximum, — numerically and in vigor, — 
wanes, and disappears. In a similar way genera and families 
rise and decline. There is nothing to indicate that the present 
species of plants and animals are to be exceptions to this rule. 
They too will become extinct by actually dying out and by 
replacement by other types, or will so change as to become new 
species, differing in some definite and significant way from the 
old. 

Man can readily adjust himself to these gradual changes in the 
species about us if he can only insure that the new species which 
replace the old shall be as well suited to his needs as the former 
were. But what of man himself? Is our own species any 
exception to this rule of change ? We have no evidence that it 
is. Indeed the best students of the subject hold that the species of 
the genus Homo have already changed several times since the genus 
first appeared. This does not mean that man ever died out and 
then reappeared; but that changes in our ancestors have been 
important enough to make a succession of species of Man. 

Nevertheless man has undoubtedly introduced some new 
factors into the problem of his own evolution. For example, he 
makes, uses and improves tools for the better doing of his work, 
and has built up a complex industrial and economic system about 
this fact. He has gained power to modify and to use his 
surroundings as no other animal has; he can compare, and dis- 
criminate, and reason, and can preserve and convey his con- 
clusions by means of the spoken and written language he has 
invented, and can thus educate as no other species can. He has 
organized his home and developed a spirit in his family life more 
far reaching than is found elsewhere. He has built up a philos- 
ophy of life, whether we call it science or religion, which enables 
him to prophecy and to purpose for the future on the basis of 
experience and faith. And upon all this he has superimposed 
a complex competitive-political-economic-social organization 
which helps or hinders the rest. By all of this he roughly 
measures his civilization. The student of zoology will not 
gain all that his course should give him if he does not properly 
connect all these high human attainments with the life proc- 
esses he has been studying among the animals. 



478 ZOOLOGY 

In all the ages of human history this civilization has been 
growing more and more complex, and individuals are becoming 
more dependent upon the common welfare. The more complex 
these social organizations become the more are the points at 
which they are open to destruction; and when they fail to 
function, the more profound the destruction. These human 
* ' civilizations ' ' have risen and fallen much as species of animals 
have, only much more rapidly. Now and again their totterings 
have threatened to drag down the whole human social structure. 
The recent world war is an illustration of this, — the best since 
the middle ages. Nevertheless, thus far new groups of peoples 
have always come to the front, have taken over the leadership 
from those who have failed, and have modified, — in some ways 
improving, — the political or economic program. As long as 
there are new groups, outside the falling civilization, virile 
enough to improve on the old, this waning of nations is not a 
disadvantage to the species. Indeed all this may be a very 
definite check upon the decadence of the species. Nevertheless 
as the world is now being knitted together, it becomes less easy 
to destroy one center of civilization without general disaster. 

From these considerations it is clear that man, as a species, 
has two chances to fail where ordinary animals have only one. 
Man, because the world is becoming more and more united into 
one community, may fail in his artificially built up civilization so 
profoundly as to jeopardize the species itself through the break- 
down of our economic machinery. And, on the other hand, he 
doubtless has within him that inner rhythm of advance and 
decay which other species have shown. 

In spite of the fact that it is very doubtful if man has 
improved organically in either a physical or mental way during 
historic time, our curve of efficiency as a species seems upward 
still, largely on account of our improvement in knowledge and in 
social cooperation. We may reasonably expect this upward 
trend to continue, unless it is broken prematurely by some vital 
mistake and catastrophe in the conscious phase of our evolution, 
as, for example, by misapplication of our scientific, social, 
industrial or political knowledge and powers. 

The following seem to be some of the most likely factors 



man 479 

which might check our- rise and force a sudden or a gradual 
decline. 

i. The rapid exhaustion of the basic natural resources upon 
which civilization depends without a corresponding limitation in 
population will increase inevitably the competition between 
nations, classes, and individuals. Since this exhaustion is tak- 
ing place in the interest of personal luxuries and of private gains 
rather than in the interest of permanent social evolution, we 
may find ourselves without the means of progress before our full 
capacities for progress shall have been realized. 

2. There is more than a chance of the breakdown of our 
industrial-political machinery, because of its very complexity 
and weight and because it is being used selfishly and com- 
petitively, and hence wastefully, rather than scientifically for 
social or racial ends. Even with the best intentions our ma- 
chinery always tends to develop more rapidly than our ability 
to use it. Coupled with injustice this outcome is made the more 
certain. 

3. Unless we can modify the above tendencies, international 
wars and inter-class struggles will become increasingly disas- 
trous. Increasing intelligence, if our present competition and 
economic injustices continue, will mean more, not less, inter- 
group conflict. 

4. While we have been gradually overcoming the more 
conspicuous difficulties of the species, our very civilization has 
made us more open to new foes which are much more dangerous 
than the reptiles and the carnivores ever were. Our enemies 
now are among the insects, worms, protozoa, and bacteria. We 
may, or we may not, finally win in our struggle against cancer, 
typhus, syphilis, gonorrhea, cholera, plague, pneumonia, and 
their successors, which are caused by these enemies. 

5. By the very progress we have made in humane feelings 
and in science, we are keeping alive many strains of human stock 
which are socially inadequate, — as the weak, the feeble-minded, 
the insane, the sexually uncontrolled and degenerate. These 
are allowed to reproduce their kind, and in general the stocks 
which are below the average in capacity and intelligence, and 
are therefore less likely to add to the racial assets, are breeding 



480 ZOOLOGY 

more rapidly than those which seem to be above the average. 
There is no possible way to figure out, on this basis, a human 
species of increasing vigor. 

What can we do consciously to overcome these partly bio- 
logical and partly social and economic threats against our 
species ? The following would seem to be among our best 
chances. 

i . To study the chemical and physiological basis of behavior, 
character and heredity in order to discover, if possible, chemical 
or other artificial means to check the internal changes of germ 
plasm which must lie back of any decay of the stock. 

2. By preventing reproduction on the part of definitely 
inadequate strains, and encouraging it on the part of the more 
promising. 

3 . By limiting population to the point at which the renewable 
resources of the earth will give opportunity for full development 
to all those born. 

4. By checking the use of unrenewable resources basic to the 
production of actual necessities for the sound evolution of the 
species, and by prohibiting their use in the making of those 
luxuries which more often injure than improve the race. 

5. By exercising a rigorously scientific control over the pro- 
duction and distribution of the materials necessary for human 
welfare. This means the scientific budgeting of the material 
aspects of human needs, support, and progress instead of 
leaving these things to the cross-currents of ignorance, custom, 
greed, speculation, and selfish competition for private profits. 

6. By reorganizing the artificial social, economic, and 
political structure in such a way that the premiums will actually 
be put on individual activity in contributing to social coopera- 
tion and progress rather than upon competition, ruthlessness 
and dishonesty. 

7. By a conscious and thoroughgoing education of the 
young into this rational and cooperative spirit, and in the 
application of science to human problems, rather than in the 
attitude of selfish competition and exploitation, as at present. 

478. Topics for the Library. — 1. Study the effects of tropical 
conditions on the human race, as judged by the races of men now 



MAN 481 

found there : Effects on skin ; on physical and mental states ; on 
industrial and social life. 

2. Study similarly the effects of the conditions of life in the 
temperate zones. What is the value to man of the alternation of 
summer and winter, in encouraging thrift and foresight; in the 
permanency and character of homes, etc. The effects of these 
things on stability of government and of social institutions 
generally. 

3. Similarly study the conditions of extreme cold, as seen 
in the life of the Esquimos, Finns, Laplanders, and the like. 

4. Where were the highest examples of aboriginal civilization 
on the American continent when it was discovered ? Describe. 

5. Describe the steps whereby the clan, the tribe, -and 
the nation may be built up with the home as the starting-point. 
What new personal qualities are called for and cultivated by the 
social life of the tribe ? 

6. Illustrate the effects of the physical geography of the 
earth on man's life and history. Examples: Egypt; Greece; 
Palestine; the Mediterranean Sea; the depression formed by the 
Hudson River and Lake Champlain; the Allegheny mountains; 
effects of continents on races. 

7. On the whole, does it seem that man has been sub- 
ject to the same influence by external conditions which we have 
found in the lower animals? Illustrate. 

8. Human migrations. Cite some of those that belong to 
recorded history and look at their causes and results. 

9. What is the zoological character of mixed or hybrid races 
of men as compared with the stocks from which they were 
derived? What of their hardiness? Fecundity? Stability? 
What of j the "melting pot" idea as making for a strong race? 

10. What is the human population of the earth estimated to 
be? How is it believed to be distributed among the leading 
races? Which is growing with greatest rapidity? What rea- 
sons can you assign ? 

11. Follow some of the more modern classifications of the 
divisions of the human race. How do these differ from those 
used in the text ? 



31 



CHAPTER XXVI 
THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 

478. In the preceding pages the words evolution and devel- 
opment have been used frequently, but no effort has been made 
to define or justify them. In all that has been said it has been 
assumed that the animals now on the earth have come to then- 
present condition of variety and complexity by natural growth 
and development, rather than by outright creation as we see 
them now. This has been assumed, not because there can be 
any complete demonstration of the view, but because it is more 
in accordance with the facts as we find them than any other 
theory which has been offered. 

The student is now in a position to study the question of 
evolution more broadly, and to appreciate a more full statement 
of it and some of the discoveries and inferences most closely 
related to it. 

479. The Meaning of Evolution.— There is a good deal of 
haziness in the thought of people generally as to just what the 
zoologist means by evolution. Evolution is not in any sense a 
cause; it is a term for a process, for the way in which present 
conditions have come about. Briefly, the most important ele- 
ments in the thought of evolution are gradualness and natural- 
ness. In more detail, the following features may be said to 
belong to the idea of evolution : 

1 . All life, so far as we can know, has come from pre-existing 
life. This year's animals are descended from those of last year; 
they from those of the year before, and so on back. 

2. All animals are subject to change. Offspring are never 
just like the parents. If given time enough animals may thus 
change in any degree. New species may come from old by 
change. 

3. The complex animals of the present time are descended 
from simpler, more generalized ones ; and these from still earlier 

482 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 483 

types. So even the most developed animals of the present have 
arisen ultimately from ancestors as simple as the simplest. 
Sometimes, however, evolution is regressive, from the complex 
to the less complex. 

4. All animals have fundamental likenesses. Some are 
more alike; some are less so. The fundamental likenesses mean 
kinship. 

5. The process of the development of life is gradual rather 
than sudden, although the rapidity of it may differ at different 
times ; it is natural rather than supernatural ; it is not lawless and 
arbitrary, but is subject to the same laws of cause and effect 
which operate in chemistry and physics. 

6. On the whole, the life-processes result in a closer and more 
perfect adjustment of organisms to one another and to the 
more important forces of the environment. 

480. Evidences for the Development Theory. — Biologists 
generally are agreed as to the fact of evolution, and there is no 
longer any direct search for evidences for the belief. Any dis- 
agreement among them is in respect to the manner in which 
evolution has come about ; and the present search is for the cause 
and the factors which produce it. Many people, however, look 
with some suspicion on the idea. For this reason the student 
should have before his mind some of the classes of facts that 
have convinced biologists of the reality of evolution. 

481. Variability as an Evidence. — The changeableness of 
organisms is the fact that makes it impossible for the biologist 
to deny evolution. Every day we see differences in organisms 
of the same species, which variety has been brought about 
by differences in the surroundings, by the behavior of the organ- 
isms themselves, by cultivation by man, or by something 
belonging to their parents. We know that man can take ad- 
vantage of these differences and can select certain types; can 
cultivate and select again in such a way as to get, in a few gen- 
erations of cultivation and breeding, animals strikingly different 
from those with which he started. A proportion of these new 
forms seem to breed reasonably true, and a new race is said 
to be established. In this way the different breeds or varieties 



484 ZOOLOGY 

of dogs, pigeons, chickens, and many other domestic animals 
have apparently arisen. None of these things could happen but 
for the fact that animals can vary. These results are not merely 
a proof of evolution ; they are evolution. Any one who believes 
in these changes is an evolutionist by just that much. 

There can be no reasonable doubt that just this kind of 
thing is happening in nature, without the help of man. It 
cannot take place, however, so rapidly as when man deliberately 
aids the process, by artificial selecting and breeding according 
to his preference, and then eliminates those that he does not want. 
It sometimes happens, both in nature and in cultivation, that 
large variations ("sports") appear suddenly, and breed true in 
succeeding generations. These marked variations are not so 
frequent as the slighter ones, but seem to be more persistent 
when they once appear. Whether large or small these heritable 
changes in animals, arising from changes in the germ plasm are 
known as mutations. 

482 Evidences from Geographical Distribution. — In the 

wild state, animals usually change too slowly for us to detect 
that there has been any change in a species. Accurate record of 
measurements extending through several human generations 
would be necessary in order to demonstrate permanent changes ; 
yet we do have some evidence on a broader scale which is of a 
nature quite similar to that in the last section. In the way in 
which animals occur on the face of the earth a great many inter- 
esting factors enter, and it sometimes happens that we get some 
good indication of the long-time effects of variation. Sometimes 
we find two forms of plant or animal flourishing in two regions 
that are separated from each other by some kind of a barrier 
which does not allow them to pass back and forth and thus to 
mingle. These forms are in general similar, and yet are con- 
stantly and recognizedly different. Sometimes we can find 
that these two regions (b and c) have been stocked from some 
third region (a), and that both varieties are apparently descend- 
ents of the same ancestors. Indeed, we may be able to find 
specimens of all grades connecting "a" with li b" on one side, 
and other intermediate types connecting "a" with ' V on the 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 485 

other side. In cases like this, which are by no means infre- 
quent, it is believed that the animals found in "£>" and "c" 
have migrated into their respective regions and in becoming 
adapted to their new condition of life have so changed or evolved 
as to become different from their parent stock and from each 
other. 

In a similar way, but on a much larger scale and in a form 
too complex to discuss here, we find evidences of change and 
development in the animals of the great continental and other 
natural divisions of the earth. 

483. Evidences from Geological History. — In the rock 

strata of the crust of the earth we find abundant plant and ani- 
mal remains in the form of fossils. In the most recent strata 
we find remains similar to the species of the present time, 
whether of mollusks, of fishes, or of mammals. The further 
back we go in the earth's history the less similarity we find be- 
tween the fossils and the present-day life. The earlier strata 
show only invertebrate remains ; later the fishes appear, although 
much more primitive and generalized than the fishes of to-day. 
Later still appear amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds; 
and last of all man's remains. 

The conditions are just what we should expect if life ap- 
peared on the earth in its simpler forms and gradually, by 
evolution through the ages, became complex and modern. 

These things are not only true in a general way, but have 
been found to be true of the special types of animals. For 
example, the fossil remains of modern horses have been found 
in recent geological strata. The modern horse has only one toe 
on each foot and walks on the end of that toe. He has, however, 
some splints on either side of this digit which point us to the 
history of his toes. In the geological age preceding the present 
we find the remains of an animal clearly like the horse, in which 
these splints are larger and show more nearly the structure of 
normal toes. By tracing the conditions backward in geological 
times, links have been found which connect the skeleton of the 
horse of the present day with an animal of the Eocene period, 
which had four toes on the forefeet and three toes on the hind 



486 ZOOLOGY 

feet and was little larger than a fox. These steps are so com- 
plete that expert students of fossils do not hesitate to regard 
that we have a fair knowledge of the ancestry of the horse for 
perhaps millions of years. Similar series of gradual changes 
are shown among many species of fossil animals, as mollusks, 
Crustacea, fishes, birds, and mammals. 

Of course this is not like the pedigree records that man keeps 
of blooded horses to-day; but it is very striking. It is entirely 
without explanation if animals have not been subject to gradual 
evolution through the ages. 

484. Evidences from General Similarities of Structure. — 

In studying animals we, need to keep in mind not merely the 
varieties and dissimilarities which we see arising, but the under- 
lying likenesses as well. This underlying likeness of structure 
is really an evidence of relationship; which is another way of 
saying that animals, in spite of their differences, are apparently 
descended from a common stock. If, for example, we examine 
the offspring of a given pair of parents, as a litter of kittens or of 
puppies, we expect these individuals to be more alike in behavior, 
in disposition, and structure than will be the same number of 
offspring of totally different parents. This likeness is a sign 
and measure of their kinship. Two spaniels or two newfound- 
lands are more like each other than either is like to any other 
breed of dogs. The greater similarity is again the sign of their 
greater kinship. But the spaniel is more like the Newfoundland 
than either is like the wolf, for the spaniel and the Newfoundland 
probably belong to one species {Canis familaris) and the wolf 
to another (Canis lupus). 

The wolf and dog are more alike, and hence closer akin, 
than either is to the members of the cat family. The dogs and 
wolf belong to the genus Canis and the cats to the genus Felis. 
This is the way we express their degrees of difference. But in 
turn the dogs and cats are much more similar to each other than 
they are to the horse and cow. Because of this similarity in 
structure and behavior, the dogs and cats are classed together as 
carnivores, and the horse and cow together as ungulates. 

With all their differences the carnivores and the ungulates 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 487 

have many fundamental points in common. They are all warm- 
blooded, covered with hair, have rriammary glands, carry the 
young in the uterus attached by a placenta. Hence they belong 
to the subclass placentals and to the class of mammals. They 
have similar parts to their skeletons, similar arrangements of 
the principal muscles, similar structure of the brain and central 
nervous system. Thus it might be shown that the Newfound- 
land and the spaniel are similar to all the vertebrates, and 
finally to all the animals. 

If the similarities of structure in a litter of kittens or in a 
human family are a sign of kinship, we may equally believe that 
the similarities between the dog and the cow are also evidences 
of kinship ; and that their differences mark the result of a gradual 
evolution from a common stock in special directions determined 
by inheritance and in adjustment to special modes of life through 
long ages of time. 

485. Evidences from Rudimentary Organs. — It often hap- 
pens that some animals possess organs in only a slight or rudi- 
mentary way, which in other animals are well developed and 
useful. In the rabbit, for example, there is a pouch called the 
caecum at the junction of the small and the large intestine. It 
is several inches in length, well supplied with glands, and proba- 
bly of considerable value in digestion. In many mammals this 
structure is much reduced, and in man it is only found as a 
"vermiform appendix," which certainly has no such value as it 
has in the rabbit, and is thought by many physiologists to be a 
positive menace. 

Similarly, in many mammals there are certain muscles by 
which the external ear is moved and directed so as to catch the 
sound waves. In man these muscles, though present, are so 
reduced as to be of no value. Most animals have many rudi- 
mentary remnants of organs which are useful in other apparently 
related animals. It is said that man alone has several hundred 
such rudimentary structures. The rudimentary eyes of fishes 
and Crustacea in caves, and the almost or entirely reduced organs 
of many parasites are mute testimony of the loss of organs once 
useful, through changed life conditions. In other words, 



4 88 



ZOOLOGY 



vestigial organs are also evidence of evolution of animals into 
adjustment with the surroundings. 

486. Evidences from Embryology. — The study of em- 
bryology — the course of life in the individual — has probably 
furnished us the most suggestive evidence of the evolution of 

Fig. 250. 



JBirds 



JiteptLLes 



S. J^Zammara 
glands J 



8 Loss of GUIs 
<5. 7\fotochorcl 



JL. Eody- cavity 
<3. Gastrula 

£. ^Morula, 
l.O/ie-celted Ovum. 




K 



- tOor/nsromuUaitL 

jSc/zihoderrns 

^G/tirxt, etc. 
Sjoonyes 
ZbZonuzZ SPrvtozoa 

^Sw^le-ceFlzd Jhrtozo 



Fig. 250. A diagram to suggest the way in which individuals of the different phyla have 
parallel development for a while, and later diverge in their own particular way. For example, an 
Amphibian begins life as a single cell, 'similar to the simple protozoa (1); later it forms a mass of 
cells similar to some of the colonial protozoa (2) ; in forming a gastrula (3) it is going through a 
stage similar to the Hydra, which is a kind of permanent gastrula. Amphibians run parallel to the 
fishes in development, in the formation of a body cavity (4), in forming segments (5). in develop- 
ment of notochord (6) , in the presence of gills in early life (7) ; but part company with the fishes in 
the fact that they lose the gills and develop lungs (8). 

Questions on the figure. — Trace out other instances of parallelism until the 
purpose and meaning of the diagram become clear. Then find other facts with 
respect to development of animals and show how the diagram cannot do justice 
to the whole truth. Compare diagram with text, sections 486 and 487. 

animals. The main facts, and the use that has been made of 
them in reaching our conclusions, may be expressed in a few brief 



DOCTRINE OE EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 489 

statements. The student must go to more extended texts 
for the complete handling of this complex but most interesting 
subject. 

Some important facts of individual development are : 

1. Each individual animal (with certain exceptions in 
non-sexual reproduction), no matter how high in the scale 
of life, starts its life as a single cell, similar in many respects 
to the permanent single-celled protozoans, except that it has 
the power of developing rapidly into its own peculiar species. 
(See Fig. 250, 1.) 

2. All higher forms agree likewise in the next step of their 
development, which consists in the division of this single cell 
into a simple mass of cells. This is known as the morula, which 
is not unlike the adult, and highest stage, of such types as Eudor- 
ina and Volvox (colonial protozoa, Fig. 250, 2). 

3. Practically all the higher animals pass next through 
a stage in which the cells become differentiated into two layers, 
more or less well denned and arranged in a kind of double sac 
— ectoderm on the outside and entoderm on the inside (see Fig. 
13, A 4). This is known as the gastrula. Animals like the adult 
Hydra (Fig. 81) are really a kind of permanent gastrula — some- 
what modified in form to be sure, but a gastrula nevertheless. 

The facts thus far stated may be taken as suggesting the 
following conclusions : 

1. All organisms, even the highest, begin life at essen- 
tially the same point ; that is, as a single cell. This similarity of 
individual origin indicates their fundamental kinship and simi- 
larity of racial origin. 

2. The development of all the forms above the Protozoa 
is parallel for at least a brief period ; that is, through the morula 
and the blastula stages (Fig. 13, 3 and 4). This parallelism of 
development added to the similarity of origin points even more 
strongly to their kinship. 

3. There is tendency for some forms to drop out of the race 
and to become permanently fixed about certain of these stages: 
as most protozoa at the single-celled stage, Volvox at the morula 
stage, and sponges and hydra at the gastrula stage. Others go 
on and introduce new steps of differentiation before reaching their 
adult development (Fig. 250: 1-9). 



490 ZOOLOGY 

487. Careful study of the later stages of development of 
the higher animals gives us further illustrations of these truths 
and enables us to state even more broadly the principles deduced 
above. For example, we find that insects have a parallel course 
of embryonic development in which the great body of insects 
agree (Fig. 250). The same is true of the vertebrates. One in- 
sect agrees with another insect in the mode of its development 
more nearly up to the complete adult character than an insect 
will agree with an echinoderm, or either with a vertebrate. 
In a similar way, all vertebrates have a course of develop- 
ment parallel for a longer time than they parallel any other 
group (Fig. 250, 1-7). 

Furthermore, the same principle applies to the subgroups 
of the vertebrates, or of any other branch. The vertebrate 
development begins to differ from the insect development lower 
down than the divergence of the reptiles from the birds, or the 
mammals from the fishes (Fig. 250,8). The parallelism between 
birds and reptiles ends earlier than that between one type of 
birds and another, or between man and the other mammals. 
Finally within a species, as of grasshoppers, of reptiles, or of 
rabbits, the course of development of different individuals con- 
tinues identical through to the mature form. It is just those 
forms that seem most similar in structure (section 484) in which 
the steps of the embryonic development is most nearly identical. 
The two forms of similarity, structure and embryology, 
strengthen the idea of real kinship. If the similar course of 
embryological development in brothers or cousins marks kin- 
ship, the shorter parallelism of different types may also mark 
kinship of a less degree. Hence we have reached the conclusion 
that all parallelisms in the fundamentals of individual history 
mark some degree of relationship. The longer and more pro- 
found the parallelism the closer the relationship. A careful 
study of the diagram (Fig. 250) will serve to make this point 
clearer. 

488. The Biogenetic Law. — Out of such considerations as 
these has come one of the most important and far-reaching laws 
that the biologists have ever stated. It is as follows: "Each 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 
Fig. 251. 

MAN 

APES 

■■'■:■! 

LEMURS 

*/* UNGUICULATES 

PRIMATES 



491 




ELASMOBRANCHS 

CEPHALOPOOS 
INSECTS 



GASTEROPODS 

/ 

MOLLUSKS 



LAMELLIBRANCHS 



COLONIAL PROTOZOA 
I 
SIMPLE PROTOZOA 
Pig. 251. A diagram designed to suggest something of the possible relationships of the various 
groups of animals. The vertical position indicates roughly the relative specialization or progress 
of the groups. 

Questions on the figure. — Which of the groups seem to be centers from which 
several types may have sprung? What does this mean? Which phyla do not 
seem to have others springing from them? What does this mean? What three 
theories as to the origin of the Chordata are suggested in the figure? 



492 ZOOLOGY 

individual animal, in passing from the egg to the adult, repeats 
in an abbreviated way, in a few days or years, many of the steps 
taken by the race to which it belongs, in its evolution from its 
single-celled ancestors to its present condition." Put briefly, it 
reads: Individual history is a brief recapitulation of race history. 

Why can the individual egg cell of a frog, in a few months, 
pass through a morula, a blastula, a water-breathing legless fish- 
like stage, and into an air-breathing, four-legged adult? Be- 
cause its ancestors were first single-celled animals, and through 
millions of years and countless generations gradually developed 
first into a mass of cells, later into a gastrula-like stage, and later 
still for long ages breathed by gills, like the fishes, and last 
of all became what they now are— water-breathing tadpoles 
with the power to breathe air in the adult life. 

Because the history is so much shortened, only some of the 
more profound stages are recapitulated, and the advances of the 
race in thousands of years are compressed into moments in the 
ndividual history. Furthermore, each species has introduced 
idiosyncrasies that belong in no way to the race. For these 
reasons the general truth of recapitulation must not be applied 
too literally or widely. 

489. The Principal Factors Entering into Evolution. — As was 

indicated earlier, biologists no longer question the fact of the 
evolution of the animal kingdom. They are now seeking to 
find the principal elements (causes) that are bringing about this 
result and the manner in which each contributes to the process. 
We doubtless have not found all the factors. However, those 
mentioned below certainly enter into the explanation. 

Evolution could not take place without variation, nor with- 
out some device to preserve (i.e., repeat) and to accumulate these 
variations from generation to generation after they arise. Fur- 
thermore, while variation may be in all directions, evolution 
seems to follow rather definite courses. These courses are not 
haphazard. They have on the whole led toward adaptation of 
the organisms to their most pressing surroundings. In other 
words there seems to have been selection and elimination of 
variations, and thus a guidance of evolution. 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 



493 



The following outline may aid the student in grasping some 
of the important elements of the case/ 

i. Variation makes evolution possible, but only this. We have 
learned (§60) that body cells and germ cells lead a parallel 
life in every organism. They are very different in their proc- 
esses and their fate. Both of these classes of cells are in con- 
tinual action, reaction, and interaction with one another and 
with the environment. Theoretically, therefore, variations 
may arise in either of two ways : 

A. Changes may originate in the body cells (aside from what 

was transmitted from the parents) . 

a. The body of a given organism may change by the direct 
action of the environment upon it. 

b. Parts of a body may change through use and disuse. 

c. Parts of a body may change by the interaction of one 
part upon another, — as in the case of the secretions 
from the pituitary or the thyroid. 

d. Parts of the body may change from the changed in- 
fluence of the contained germ cells and the secretions 
that are related to these, — as in the effects of the 
gonad secretions upon secondary sex characteristics 
of the body. 

B. Changes may occur in germ cells. 

a. Germ cells may be modified by the mingling of the two 
different germ cells, — ovum and sperm, — that originally 
united to form them. This new compound is different 
from any ever formed before. 

b. Germ cells may be modified by their environment, — 
which is chiefly the body in which they are being 
housed, though it is possible that the general environ- 
ment also may influence them. 

2. Preservation, repetition, and accumulation of variations from 
generation to generation after they once appear. Only this can 
insure evolution. This is the problem of inheritance, of which 
there are two aspects: 

A. Preservation of fluctuations that have come to the body. 
If there is an early separation of germ cells and body cells and 
they lead a parallel course of development, it becomes a problem 



494 ZOOLOGY 

whether a special quality that is gained by the body cells in 
their life can be imparted to their cousins among the germ cells 
from which the next generation of individuals arises. Unless 
this can be done it is clear that these bodily changes cannot be 
transmitted to the next generation, since the body cells do not 
themselves pass over. A body may have acquired a very strik- 
ing quality, as a mutilation for example, without any part of 
this quality being found in the germ cells and thus being 
preserved. 

B. Preservation of changes that come to the substance of the 
germ cells. Clearly, since the germ cells make the next genera- 
tion, changes in these cells may very well influence both the germ 
and body cells of the next generation, and no new quality can 
be passed on to the next generation without somehow first 
becoming represented in the germ plasm. Biologists are coming 
more and more to feel that this is the really great field of heredi- 
tary influence, and that evolutionary studies must concern 
themselves increasingly with the history of these cells and the 
kinds of influences that can change them. 

3. The Guidance of Evolution. — Whether we believe that, the 
course of evolution has been purposive or not, we can, as we 
look back upon the course of it, see that it has actually pro- 
ceeded toward certain reasonably definite goals. If evolution 
has been in any degree orderly, there must have been some 
guiding influences. Variations may themselves occur in an 
orderly or guided fashion, or if they are haphazard there must 
have been something which has guided in their preservation. 
This might take place in either, or both, of two ways. 

a. If variation is guided so that chiefly suitable or appro- 
priate changes shall occur, evolution would be controlled 
thereby. It is conceivable that organisms have an internal 
tendency to vary in definite and suitable directions; or that 
the environment naturally forces the changes in organic matter 
into channels that are fit. 

b. Or, on the contrary, variations may have any range, and 
the environment through its life and death pressure on the 
organisms may eliminate some and select others on the basis of 
the fitness of their variation. The result of this would be to 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 495 

make evolution follow the demand of the environment inde- 
pendently of the range of the variations. 

490. Variability and Variation. — All organisms vary. This 
furnishes the materials of evolution. Variation suggests two or 
three things: (i) An animal may change from day to day as the 
result either of its own activities or of the action of the environ- 
ment upon it; (2) it may differ, at any stage or condition of its 
life, from what its parents were at the corresponding stage ; and 
(3) it may differ also from its brothers and sisters even at the 
same stage of life and under similar conditions. Some of these 
changes are evidently caused by conditions outside the organ- 
ism ; others by internal conditions. These changes make evolu- 
tion possible. We do not believe that all these classes of changes 
enter equally into evolution. One of the most important ques- 
tions of the modern biologist is this: "What produces the varia- 
tion actually found in individuals of a species, and to what extent 
are these variations due to internal or to external causes?" 

When we actually study variations in nature we find them 
of two principal kinds. * First, and more commonly, we find what 
are called fluctuations or continuous variations. They are so 
called because they tend to cluster about a mean, with no 
sharp break in the series from the lowest to the highest. We 
should find this illustrated if we were to take at random a thou- 
sand men and arrange them on the basis of weight or height or 
intelligence. A curve drawn to show their distribution would 
give the greatest number near the average and the extremes 
would be gradually less numerous. The curve, however, would 
be a gradual one, and we would find cases illustrating all degrees 
within the normal range. Fluctuations are illustrated by the 
variations in §489, 1, A. 

In the second class, however, while most members of a 
species will arrange themselves as above, we may find an occa- 
sional individual so different from all others that there are no 
' ' connecting links . ' ' These are known as ' ' spor ts ' ' or ' ' mutants ' ' 
and illustrate discontinuous variation. Experiment shows that 
such mutations are much less frequent, but much more liable to 
breed true, than the fluctuations. In the case of fluctuations 
even the most extreme forms produce offspring whose average 



496 ZOOLOGY 

tends to be not about the extreme parent, but rather about the 
mean of the group. The offspring of the mutants, on the 
other hand, have their mean about the parent, and are quite 
independent of the general mean. Mutations are not necessarily 
discontinuous nor extreme variations, however. Small muta- 
tions behave as described above. In other words mutations are 
transmissible ;. fluctuations are not. 

491. Heredity, — the Organic Continuity between Genera- 
tions. — We have already seen (§131) that the germ cells, ovum 
and sperm, are the organic bridge which connects the body of one 
generation with that of the next.- Just as new qualities cannot 
influence evolution until they are represented in the protoplasm 
of the germ cells (germ plasm), so all the old qualities of the race, 
both deep and superficial, in order to continue, must be repre- 
sented in this germ plasm. We know, just because offspring 
continue in the main like their parents, that this germ plasm 
does not change easily; but, because they are-never exactly like 
their parents, it does change some. When the germ cells have 
united, inheritance in the new generation has been determined. 
After this the parent may influence the development of the new 
individuals, — as the mother mammal doubtless does while the 
young is carried in the uterus or nourished by milk ; but neither 
of these forms of parental influence is a matter of heredity in any 
sense. 

In those organisms in which there is no union, where a single 
germ cell may develop into the adult*, only one line of germ plasm 
is involved and heredity seems a somewhat simpler thing. How- 
ever, when two different strains of germ cells unite to start the 
new generation, every cell of the new individual receives chromo- 
somes, and probably other material, that came by way of both 
ovum and sperm. We are very confident that certain hereditary 
qualities are carried in some way by these chromosomes. Chro- 
mosomes from the sperm, carrying definite characteristics of the 
father's line, are closely mixed in the same nucleus with chromo- 
somes of the egg carrying characteristics of the mother's line. 
These maternal and paternal chromosomes are distributed 
equally both to the body cells of the new individual and to the 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 



497 



primitive germ cells which are carried within. In what way 
will these diverse complex chemical bodies influence one another 
in the development of the organism ? Will they blend or will one 
swamp or exclude the other ? If they blend, will they add their 
tendencies; will they neutralize each other; or will their union 
give rise to compounds so new as to carry qualities that neither 
parent had? Or may all of these things happen with the 
different qualities? These are the questions of heredity. 
Only recently have we begun to get real statistical and breeding 
data that will help us to answer them. 

492. Mendel's Experiments. — Gregor Mendel, an Austrian 
monk, published in 1866 the results of breeding experiments 



Fig. 252. 

TALL (pure) X DWARF 



TALL.. 
(Hybrid) 



F l 



self-bred 



TALL (3) 




TALL (1) 

(pure) 1 



TALL (2) 
(hybrid) 



DWARF (i)....F 2 



DWARF F 3 

(all) 



Fig. 252. Diagram illustrating Mendel's results in breeding tall and dwarf peas. Fi, F2, F3, 
first, second, and third filial generations. The first generation are all tall; but we know they are 
impure (hybrid) both because we know the parents, and by their offspring when bred among them- 
selves. The dwarfs (recessive) when they once appear are necessarily pure, and breed true. The 
tails of Fj generation are of two kinds as shown by their offspring, — 1 pure to 2 impure. The figures 
in parenthesis indicate relative numbers. All generations after F, are self-bred. 



conducted by him, together with his interpretation of these. 
His work was unknown until 1900. Since that time his facts 



32 



49 8 



ZOOLOGY 



have been verified and enlarged, and his conclusions tested and 
elaborated until we now include under "Mendelism" a large 
body of exceedingly important facts and suggestive theories 
and principles. 

Mendel hybridized varieties of garden peas. One true- 
breeding variety is dwarf and another tall. When these are 
artificially crossed, no matter which variety furnishes the pollen, 
all the offspring are like the tall parent in height. The dwarf 

Fig. 253. 

C X c Parental Generation 



C{c) 1 st Filial Generation F x 

(Self-crossed) 



CC 



C(c) 



C(c) 



CC 



CC CC C{c) C(c) cc CC C{c) C{c) 



CC 



CC. 



CC 



Hybrids 



CC 



Hybrids 



CC 



cc c c cc cc F 4 

Fig. 253. A general formula for Mendelian crosses. C represents any dominant quality; 
c, the absence of the quality, or the recessive. The first filial generation are all hybrids that look 
like the dominant parent. If these are self-bred, the offspring of the second filial generation, F«, 

will be one-fourth pure dominant {CC), one-fourth pure recessive {cc), and one-half hybrids {Cc) 
which look and breed like their hybrid parents. CC and C{c) look alike, but breed differently. 
Compare with Fig. 252. 

quality, which evidently must be represented in the offspring, 
does not show in the body at all. He therefore concluded that 
tallness was dominant over dwarfness. Dwarfness is said to be 
recessive. 

When these tall hybrids were self -fertilized, three-fourths of 
their offspring were tall like the parents, and one-fourth were 
dwarf like the dwarf grandparent. In the case of the dwarf 
offspring the parents clearly transmit something which the 
parent body does not possess. There were no intermediate 
forms. Further breeding showed that these dwarfs were pure 
dwarfs with no taint of tallness on them ; for when self -fertilized 
they bred true dwarf, and continued indefinitely to do so. 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 499 

Close-breeding the tails showed them to be of two kinds: 
(1) one- third of them (that is, one-fourth of the whole offspring) 
were just as pure as the dwarfs were, and when self bred con- 
tinued to produce tall forms indefinitely. Two-thirds of the 
tails (one-half the total offspring) when inbred had three tall 
offspring to one dwarf, — just as had been true of the first hybrid 
generation. Further inbreeding of the hybrid offspring con- 
tinues to repeat these proportions indefinitely : 1:2:1 , — that is 
one pure tall, two hybrid tails, and one pure dwarf. 

Mendel also found that yellowness of seed coat was dominant 
over greenness; that smoothness of seed was dominant and 
wrinkledness was recessive. He also found that these different 
qualities were inherited absolutely separately; that is to say 
that the yellow or green and the smooth or wrinkled quality 
of the seeds might be transmitted equally in connection with 
either the dwarf or the* tall. 

The results stated in general terms might be expressed as 
follows : When pure bred parents differ by the presence and. ab- 
sence of a certain heritable quality, all the offspring of the first 
generation will be like one of the parents in bodily appearance. 
This parent and its quality are said to be dominant. When the 
individuals of this first hybrid generation are self -fertilized, or 
crossed with each other, 25 per cent, will be pure and like the 
recessive grandparent; 25 per cent, will be pure and like the 
dominant grandparent; and 50 per cent, will be hybrids like the 
immediate parents, having the bodily appearance of the domi- 
nant grandparent. 

The diagram (Fig. 253) will aid the student in following the 
general results. 

493 . Mendel's Laws. — Three laws or principles were deduced 
by Mendel from his experiments, and have been modified by 
later workers. 

a. The principle of unit characters. This suggests that 
organisms do not inherit the whole parental nature as a unit, 
but that each parental quality acts as a unit in inheritance. 
Each individual, from the point of view of inheritance, is made 
up of many independent unit characters which may be inherited 
in any combination. 



5oo 



ZOOLOGY 



Later researches support this principle in the main, but show 
that these unit characters do influence one another. Some- 
times they are linked or coupled in such a way that one cannot 
be inherited without another; sometimes they repel one another 
so that they cannot be inherited together; and sometimes a 
quality that appears to us as one in the body can be shown by 
breeding to be made up of two or more cooperating unit char- 
acters in the germ cells.. 

Fig. 254. 
Possible Kinds of Male Gametes 







T 


D 











0$ 

a 


T 


TT 


T(D) 


OS 

-8? 




Pure tall 


Hybrid tall 


MO 


D 


T{D) 


DD 


w 
m 
O 




Hybrid tall 


Pure dwarf 



Fig. 254. Diagram showing the possible kinds of crosses of the hybrids of the first filial genera- 
tion in Mendel's peas. Each hybrid parent may produce eggs and sperm carrying, when they 
segregate, either tallness, T, or dwarfness, D, but not both. These in the long run will be equal in 
numbers. Each kind of sperm will have equal chances of uniting with either kind of egg. 



Questions on the figure. — Why are these the only possible gametes? Follow 
out the details of the diagram and see just why the lettering in the squares is as it 
is, and determine the quality of the resulting offspring in each case. Is it clear 
why the resulting proportions are as they are ? Mendelians now think of dwarfness 
as an absence of the quality tallness, and would letter it t instead of D. Develop 
diagrams of your own, on this basis, in lieu of Figs. 254 and 255. 

b. The principle of dominance. There are genes, or deter- 
miners, in the germ plasm which stand for these unit characters 
in the body. When these are brought together by the union 
of two germ cells, one {e.g., that for tallness) will dominate that 
for dwarfness (in peas). The gene for dwarfness, though present 
in all the cells, both body cells and primordial germ cells (see 
§§49, 60), has no part in developing the body. The recessive 
characteristic cannot develop in the presence of the dominant 
determiner. Whenever the dominant determiner is absent, 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 



50I 



the alternative recessive qualities will appear. This explains 
why the inbred recessives always breed true. The recessive 
quality cannot show at all as long as there is any taint of the 
dominant quality. 



l Fig. 255. 



TALL PARENT 



DWARF PARENT 




HYBRID TALL 
T(D) 



PURE DWARF 
D D 



Fig. 255. A diagram to show graphically the formation of gametes, dominance, possible 
matings, segregation of qualities in the gametes, and the proportion of resulting offspring, in the 
Pi and F» generations of the tall and dwarf peas. Black indicates tallness; white, dwarf ness. 
Black outside the white indicates its dominance. TT, a plant in which tallness comes from each 
parent; T(D), in which tallness comes from one parent and dwarfness from the other; DD, dwarf- 
ness from each parent. 

Questions on the figure. — Why are the gametes under each original parent 
figured alike? Why are those of the Pi parents unlike? Why are the gametes 
always either white or black, not mixed as the parents may be? Carry for your- 
self the figure one step further, that is to the P 2 generation. What kind and pro- 
portion of offspring would you get by crossing the possible gametes of TT X TT? 
TT X T(D)f T(D) X T(D)f. T{D) X DD? DD X DD? Make a diagram 
of each. 

c. The principle of segregation, or purity of the gametes. 
This principle asserts that, while both dominant and recessive 
determiners are to be found in every primordial germ cell, both 
determiners cannot go into one sperm or one ovum. In the 
process of maturing ova and sperm by nuclear division the two 
kinds of determiners separate, and thus an equal number of 
sperm and ova carry the dominant and the recessive characters. 



502 ZOOLOGY 

In other words, while the body of an organism may be a hybrid, 
the eggs and sperm are always pure dominant or recessive with 
respect to any unit character. 

In the peas, for example, if T represents the determiner for 
tallness, and t that for dwarf ness, one-half the egg cells of the 
first hybrid generation will carry T and one-half will carry the 
recessive t. The same will be true of the male nuclei of the pollen 
tube. In mating the chances are even that each kind of male 
cell will fertilize each kind of female. The "checker-board" 
diagram (Fig. 254) will show the probable number of offspring of 
each possible type. 

494. The Mechanism of the Inheritance of Unit Charac- 
ters. — These discoveries of Mendel and his successors through 
breeding, when joined to other discoveries about the behavior 
of chromosomes in the maturation divisions (see §§49, 50) by 
which eggs and sperm are produced, have given us our most 
fruitful clues to the mechanism of heredity. The uniting of 
these two sets of discoveries is a peculiarly complex and technical 
task, beyond the scope of the present discussion. Only a few 
brief suggestions will be given here. The student is invited to 
pursue the subject in some special text on heredity. 

1. The chromosomes of the germ cells seem surely to carry 
the genes which determine such unit characters as those dis- 
cussed above. Furthermore the evidence appears to indicate 
that these genes are arranged in definite linear sequence in the 
chromosome, somewhat as beads are on a string. (We do not 
know that the chromosomes carry all the inherited characters.) 

2. Thus in mitosis (metaphase stage), when the chromosome 
splits, each gene would be divided also. Consequently each 
daughter cell would have chromosomes that possess the same 
series of genes as did the parent cell, arranged in the same order 
in the chromosome. 

3 . It will be recalled (Fig. 11) that there are 2% chromosomes* 
. in ordinary cells, — one half having been supplied by the egg and 

the other by the sperm (at fertilization). It is believed that 
these chromosomes really represent % pairs, and that each 

*The letter x in this paragraph is merely numerical, as in Figs, n and 12. It has nothing to 
do with the "x-chromosome" which is connected with sex. 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 503 

maternal and paternal chromosome of a pair contains genes for 
just the same series of unit character (hereditary traits). For 
this reason they are called " homologous" chromosomes; and 
the homologous genes which they carry are at similar levels in 
the chromosomes. Every unit character therefore is represented 
by two genes in each such cell. 

4. In these homologous genes there is another complication. 
The two genes, while relating to the same unit character, are not 
necessarily identical. For example, the gene for "tallness" 
and that for " dwarf ness" relate to the same quality, but differ 
in their influence. The two homologous chromosomes might in 
the case of peas carry two genes for tallness, or two for dwarfness, 
or one for each, depending on the character of the parents. 

5. During the development of the body of an individual 
plant or animal, these pairs of maternal and paternal chromo- 
somes retain their independence within the nuclei. However, 
in the maturation of the new generation of germ cells, whether 
eggs or sperm, these homologous chromosomes actually unite in 
pairs (see §50) and form the bivalent chromosomes. At a subse- 
quent division these pairing chromosomes separate and pass to 
two different cells (segregation) . In this way each daughter cell 
(egg or sperm) receives only one of each pair of the homologous 
chromosomes, and hence only one from each pair of genes. This 
is the reduction division so frequently referred to, and seems to 
explain how the "purity of the gametes" may be secured. If 
the pairing chromosomes both carry the identical gene (as for 
tallness), the germ cells would all be alike in respect to this 
character. If however one of the pair of genes is for tallness 
and the other for dwarfness. the resulting germ cells would be 
wholly different in this character, and would carry a very differ- 
ent inheritance. 

6. The fact that certain unit qualities tend to appear 
together, as the linking of color blindness with sex in human 
beings or color with sex. in mating black Langshans and barred 
Plymouth Rocks, is believed to be due to the tendency of certain 
adjacent genes to hang together more tenaciously than the 
average. This association is not, in all instances of linkage, an 
absolutely fixed one. 



504 ZOOLOGY 

7. At this point a most interesting question arises. If a 
single chromosome carries many genes and at division splits all 
of them, as has been indicated, how does it come about that 
qualities determined by this chromosome, when once brought 
together, are not perpetually linked? How could the unit char- 
acters ever be combined in any different way? It is believed 
that two homologous genes or groups of genes may "cross-over" 
during the pairing of the chromosomes preceding the reduction 
division. That is to say that exchanges of genes may take place 
between the chromosomes, each gene coming to reside in the 
other member of the pair. It is thought that this shuffling of 
the genes by the combination of linkage and crossing over, 
helps to account for the various permutations of unit qualities 
seen in breeding. It will be seen that this gives rise to no new 
qualities. 

8. Much evidence has been accumulated pointing to the 
conclusion that maleness or femaleness (sex) is inherited very 
much as other unit characters, and is determined by one or more 
special chromosomes or by certain genes in these. Quite a 
number of sex-linked characters have been discovered. 

495. Isolation.- — When new variations occur it is clear that 
they will have a better chance to accumulate and result in a 
new and permanent stock if for any reason these new characters 
cannot be "swamped" or buried by crossing with the more 
numerous and conservative members of the parent stock. Re- 
cessive qualities could be prevalent only through such isolation. 

The effects of geographic or physical isolation is seen on is- 
lands which have been populated from the mainlands, or in 
neighboring lakes, or in valleys between which there are barrier 
mountains. In such conditions the animals and plants are dis- 
tinctly different from, the species from which they are believed 
to have sprung, and those on different islands are different from 
one another. It is believed by many observers that a larger 
number of related species is found under such conditions than 
where there is free interbreeding and migration. 

It is possible also that there are internal hindrances to mating 
which would operate in much the same way as geographic iso- 
lation. There may arise some instinctive feeling which would 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 505 

prevent mating between the average members of a species and 
individuals that had varied considerably from that average. 
We see this in some degree in human races. Or changes in the 
copulating organs or in the reactions of the germ cells might 
render such free intercrossing impossible. 

Finally, we have seen in Menders experiments that certain 
unit characters, even when the sperm and ova unite freely, do 
not permanently coalesce and blend; but sooner or later may 
separate out pure again. In a sense this is a case of physiological 
isolation of the structures that carry the varying characters 
even in the union of germ cells. 

We may say then that the varying animals may be kept 
apart by geographic barriers; or the germ cells may be kept 
apart even when the animals live freely together; or the char- 
acter-bearing determiners (genes) may be kept apart even when 
the germ cells come together. 

496. The Environment. — Assuming that variations occur 
and make evolution possible, and that heredity enables some of 
these variations to pass from one generation to another and thus 
to accumulate, and that isolation keeps the various individuals 
from evening up and thus destroying their variations by inter- 
crossing, it still remains to find the factors that have determined 
and guided the actual course of evolution in any given instance. 
Why has development taken the course it has ? 

Theoretically, as we have seen, there, might be an inherent 
tendency in living matter at the beginning to vary or evolve in 
a certain direction. Biologists are not agreed upon the exist- 
ence of such a tendency. On the other hand, the environ- 
ment — meaning the total external conditions of the life of 
organisms — may guide or direct the course of development. 
Any guidance must come from the one or the other of these 
sources, — internal or external. 

The environment may act in either of two ways to mold 
evolution. We have seen in the first place that the environment 
does act directly to produce specific changes in organisms. 
If these changes can be inherited, this will be a most important 
means of guiding evolution. It is not certain, however, that 



506 ZOOLOGY 

these direct effects of the environment on the body of an organ- 
ism can be transmitted to the germ cells. External conditions 
may likewise act directly upon the germ plasm so as to produce 
changes in its nature. Doubtless such changes would perma- 
nently affect future generations. 

Whether or not the environment can act to produce inher- 
itable changes in organisms, there is another effect of the 
environment which has certainly had a great influence on the 
course of evolution. The principle was discovered by Darwin 
and by him called "natural selection." It refers to the fact that 
the struggle for existence among organisms is so severe that 
some will inevitably be eliminated. We have seen that this is 
true among all species. A hundred are born of two parents: 
only two of these, on an average, will be preserved. Which 
will be successful? In the long run, those will be preserved 
which are best adjusted to the conditions of the life which they 
meet. This fact is independent of how they came to be ad- 
justed. This is known as the "survival of the fittest." "Fit- 
test" merely means those best adapted to live and reproduce 
in the environment encountered. This process of natural selec- 
tion does not cause variations but it may make use of any 
variations that arise, no matter what their source nor how small 
in amount, provided they can be inherited; that is to say, if 
only these variations are really mutations. In so far as it acts, 
its result is to guide evolution into suitable adaptation to the 
conditions that are able in any degree to influence life. Nature 
undoubtedly can exercise at least a veto power on the direction 
of evolution. Darwin's doctrine of selection has been much 
criticized in recent years. It is, however, the only theory for the 
guidance of evolution for which there is any definite evidence. 

In brief, the origin of heritable variations is in the germ 
plasm, produced certainly by new combinations of germ plasm, 
and conceivably by the direct or indirect influence of the environ- 
ment upon the germ plasm. And the guidance of these varia- 
tions into permanent evolutionary results is secured by the 
selective power of the environment. 

497. Evolution and Man. — Many people are deterred from 
accepting the general theory of evolution because of unwilling- 



DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION AND RELATED IDEAS 507 

ness to believe that man and his high mental and moral qualities 
could have come about in this fashion. It is of course impossible 
absolutely to prove that men or any other animals have thus 
evolved from the lower orders because a perfect pedigreed suc- 
cession can never be established. All that can ever be done is to 
make it the most reasonable explanation for the conditions as 
we find them. In reality it cannot make any material difference, 
one way or the other, whether man developed or was created 
outright. One does not escape or solve any final philosophical 
problems in relation to the ultimate causes of the universe by 
accepting or refusing to accept evolution. It is a method and 
not a form of energy. No quality of man is any less valuable 
or dignified under the assumption that it has grown than 
under the assumption that it was made outright. Man's 
social or moral place in the universe, like his place in American 
society, is properly determined by what he really is and not by 
the mere incident of the method of becoming. 

498. Topics for Library. — 1. Find definitions of evolution. Write one of 
your own. 

2. What are some of the arguments that have been offered to support the view 
that "acquired " bodily characters are transmissible? 

3. State some arguments that have been advanced against the view? 

4. State briefly Galton's law of heredity. 

5. What does the gradual development of the physical, mental, and moral 
nature of the human individual suggest? 

6. State DeVries' doctrine of "mutation" in a brief way. 

7. State Johanssen's "pure line" theory. 

8. State the modern usage of the term mutation. 

9. What is meant by "genotype?" By phenotype? Can we change the 
genotype by changing the phenotype? 

10. Discover some of the facts about the location and arrangement of the 
genes (or determinors) in chromosomes. What does linkage mean in this con- 
nection? 

11. Mention instance of "crossing over" in Mendelian inheritance. Evidence 
for it? How is "crossing over" supposed to take place? 

12. How is sex determined, in accordance with the Mendelian theory? What 
evidences do we have that nutrition or other environmental factors enter into sex 
determination? 



CHAPTER XXVII 
ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 

499. Reference has already been made in the appropriate 
places in the text to some of the most important ways in which 
the various branches of animals are related to human welfare. 
We are now in a position to look back over the economic bearings 
of all animals and to get a broader view of the part they play in 
the life of man. This is a point at which Zoology touches the 
interest of every citizen of the world, whether he has any other 
interest in it or not. The economic aspect should therefore be 
one of the features of the study of Zoology in our schools. 

500. An Analysis of the Ways in which Animals Affect the 
Welfare of Man. — 1. Helpfully: (a) as food; (b) for clothing; 
(c) in the saving of labor; (d) in scientific experiment and 
medicine; (e) for pleasure, as companions and pets or in various 
esthetic ways; (f) in minor miscellaneous ways. 

2 . Hurtf ully : (a) directly hurtful or dangerous ; (b) as causes 
or conveyors of disease in man; (c) as enemies of our friends 
among the animals; (d) as destructive to vegetation; (e) as 
injurious to various manufactured products. 

These headings are by no means exhaustive nor of equal 
merit, but they will give the student some conception of the 
closeness of the bond between man and the rest of the animal 
kingdom. 

501. Animals as a Food Supply. — The difficulties of human 
life have been such at various places and times that man has 
experimented with almost all kinds of food that have held out 
any sort of promise of nutrition or pleasure. Notwithstanding 
this, very few of the invertebrates have been given a wide place 
in his bill-of-fare. The lowest forms eaten are the "trepangs" 
(holothurians) which are used in great numbers by the Chinese. 
In the Phylum of Mollusca the oyster is at the head in impor- 
tance. There are also a number of marine and fresh- water 
clams and mussels which are used in smaller numbers. Some 

508 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 509 

species of gasteropods (snails) are prized in certain parts of the 
world. It is believed that the mussels were an important 
article of food to some tribes of North American Indians, and to 
some of the peoples of the old world when they were in a corre- 
sponding stage of development. Among the arthropods the 
lobster comes first in importance, although it has been fished to 
such an extent that the output is rapidly diminishing and the 
size of specimens on the market is steadily decreasing. Cray- 
fish, shrimps, prawns, and crabs are also used to some extent. 
The great class of insects furnishes only the honey of the honey- 
bee. Locusts have sometimes been used as a famine ration, and 
among some primitive tribes normally. 

Every class of vertebrates furnishes food species. The 
amphibians and the reptiles stand lowest in this respect. The 
frogs and turtles and a few lizards are their only edible repre- 
sentatives. The fishes, the birds, and the mammals furnish 
the staple meat foods. A very large per cent, of the fishes are 
recognized as edible. Many species of the sharks, even, are 
prized although they are actively carnivorous, and the car- 
nivorous animals have usually not been regarded popularly as 
good to eat. Numerous species of birds have been eaten, but 
those that rank as of real importance belong chiefly to the 
Gallinae, the Columbae, and the Anseres. These three classes of 
birds supply to man hundreds of millions of dollars worth of his 
choicest food annually. 

Among the mammals many species have been eaten, but 
the great division of ruminants and the swine furnish the 
bulk of the meat food now used by the human race. The 
horse is not without importance in this respect although not 
often eaten, in this country, knowingly. Among uncivilized 
people, before the domestication and improvement of the ox, the 
sheep, and the hog, this division (ruminants) still furnished the 
chief wild game animals. Besides meat they furnish milk, 
butter, and cheese. In the far north the walrus, the bear, and 
the reindeer take the place of these well-known forms. 

502. Animals as a Source of Clothing for Man. — In the 
case of primitive man the skins and furs of animals were the 
sole source of clothing and one of the means of building and 



5IO ZOOLOGY 

making comfortable tents and other dwelling places. As the art 
of weaving was developed and the discovery and perfecting of 
textiles derived from plants made headway, we became less 
dependent on the animals. But even now, in one form or 
another, the skins and the fur, hair, and wool of animals oi *e 
among our choicest clothing materials. The mammals are of 
course the main animal . source of clothing, but the warmth 
of feathers has long been recognized, and the skins and feathers 
of birds furnish articles of clothing and decoration. The import- 
ant mammals supplying the kind of hair suitable for clothing and 
for carpets and other coarser fabrics are : the various species of 
sheep and goats, the camels, the alpacas, and their relatives. 
Our leathers are made from the skins of these and related ani- 
mals, and from some of the carnivora. Practically all the rumi- 
nants produce valuable leathers. Horse hides also are used for 
this purpose. The skins of many of the soft, thick-haired ani- 
mals are dressed with the hair on, and are known as furs. Most 
of these, as the seals, the sable, mink, ermine, weasel, raccoon 
foxes, skunk, members of the cat family, and some others, be- 
long to the carnivora. A few, as the squirrel, the hare, and the 
beavers (now almost extinct) are from the rodents. 

One of the most marvelously delicate and beautiful of 
our fabrics, silk, is a secretion spun out by the larvae of the silk- 
moth in making the cocoon in which it pupates, or changes to 
the adult stage. It is killed by being put into hot water, and 
then the silk thread is unwound. The silk industry is of much 
importance in China, Japan, Italy, and France. 

503. Animals Used in Saving Human Labor. — In the 
earlier stages of civilization this help consisted of aid in hunting 
and capture of food-animals. The dog was probably one of 
the first animals domesticated. Later others came to be used 
for riding, for drawing loads in vehicles or otherwise, for plow- 
ing the soil, and the like. The camel, the ox, the horse, and 
the elephant rank among the most valuable in these respects. 
In the earlier civilizations of the orient, the camel has been of 
the utmost value. His adjustment to the tropical and semi- 
arid conditions is striking. The "ship of the desert " is an older 
means of commerce than the navigation of the sea. His 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 511 

relatives in South America, the llamas, have long been used as 
the chief animal of burden in the Andes. The reindeer is at 
once camel, horse, and ox of the frigid zone. The dog is also 
an efficient beast of burden over the snows. 

In modern times the horse has come to be one of the most 
valuable of animals used by man, ranking in money value next 
to the cattle in the United States. The mule, which is a hybrid 
between the female horse and the male ass is a hardy, strong, 
infertile animal and one of our most valuable beasts of burden 
in agricultural communities. Since the preceding sentences 
were first written, about 1900, the horse has been rapidly dis- 
placed by the great development of the motor. The student 
will not fail to realize that the more powerful groups of human 
beings have used other men as animals in very much the manner 
we have been describing. While slavery is not now legalized 
over much of the earth, this .exploitation of other human beings 
for profit is just as real as it has ever been. 

Steam, gas and electricity are replacing animal power at 
many points, but there is little likelihood that the animals will be 
entirely displaced until population becomes so numerous that 
they are more valuable as food than they can be as labor-saving 
devices. 

504. Animals in Science and Medicine. — A most inter- 
esting way in which animals have been of value to the human 
race grows out of the fact of the general likeness between man 
and the lower animals. It is safe to say that the great ad- 
vances in surgery which have accomplished so much in the 
saving of human life have been made by early experimentation 
on animals in the laboratory, even more than by the actual 
direct study of the human body and its conditions. Experi- 
ments quite impossible of being made on human beings have 
first been tried on animals and have been found to accomplish 
what was expected of them. But it is not merely in surgery 
that they have shown themselves most valuable to human life. 
In all the work on antitoxins and serums with which to combat 
the germ diseases, the work must first be done on animals. 
The antitoxin of diphtheria comes from the horse; the virus by 
which we vaccinate for smallpox is obtained by giving the 
disease to the ox, which is only mildly affected by it ; and so on 



512 ZOOLOGY 

through a considerable list of such diseases. The most hopeful 
work that is now being done to give us control of the terrible 
disease of cancer is being done on mice and rats, otherwise an 
enemy to human interests. 

It has been discovered of late years that many organs of 
the body secrete into the blood that passes through them, 
certain substances that have a most important bearing on life. 
Sometimes these organs become diseased and refuse to do their 
work. This may be true of the digestive glands, of the thyroid 
glands in the neck, and other glands of internal secretion. In 
such cases the gastric juice of the pig, or the thyro-iodin obtained 
from the thyroid of the sheep, or pancreatin obtained from other 
animals may be administered in such a way as to carry on the 
function or even to overcome the disease. 

Frogs, rabbits, guinea-pigs, cats, dogs, sheep, cows, horses, 
and monkeys are among the animals that have been most 
useful in these respects. 

505: Miscellaneous Uses of Animals. — This book is largely 
given to emphasizing the intellectual, esthetic and other educa- 
tional values of animals. A long list of minor and exceptional 
uses of animals could be mentioned. The dog and cats have 
some protective value about the homes of men, where they were 
long before recorded history began. They have kept homes free 
of vermin, as rats and mice and the smaller animals, and the dog 
has doubtless been of protection from other enemies. They 
have been companions for childhood through all history. 

The skins and tendons and bone of animals figured largely 
in all the early home industries, as sewing and tying and the 
like. In modern times the skins are used in many ways, as rugs 
and home ornaments, in the making of bags and other receptacles. 
Horn, bone, and ivory from the teeth and tusks of animals are 
fashioned into knife handles, piano keys, billiard balls, and 
numerous other objects. Whale oil (sperm oil) has long been 
used in making candles, though it has now been supplanted 
by the cheaper mineral oils. Bristles, brushes, perfumes, oils, 
glue, buttons, and fertilizers are only a portion of the numerous 
by-products of the modern meat-packing houses. Ornaments 
are made of teeth, of corals, and of pearls. Many animals are 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY . 513 

scavengers, attacking and destroying carrion and other decaying 
organic matter. Some animals get their value to us because 
they naturally attack and check such enemies of ours as the 
insects, which we are not yet able to control. 

506. Animals Directly Injurious to Man. — When man first 
appeared on the earth many mammals now extinct, much larger 
and fiercer than those of the present time, were abundant. Un- 
questionably these were much more of a menace to him then 
than the predaceous animals are now. These animals, except 
in a few poorly inhabited parts of the world, are now practically 
negligible. A few poisonous snakes, some sharks and crocodiles, 
a few members of the cat and dog families and a few species of 
bear, almost extinct, about exhaust the list of animals really 
dangerous because of size or ferocity. But in place of these there 
are now numerous species that are no less dangerous to him 
because of diseases which they bring to man directly or indirectly. 
Reference has been made to Protozoa which produce malaria 
and yellow fever, and to the intestinal and other parasites that 
belong to the unsegmented worms and produce all sorts of dis- 
comfort, inefficiency, and disease among men. The mosquitoes 
and flies and other insects that spread these diseases are just as 
important to us as the germs themselves. The bubonic plague 
is a disease of rats and other rodents carried to man from the rat 
by fleas. All these temporary external parasites that go from 
animal to animal, as lice, fleas, bedbugs, mosquitoes, etc., are 
especially favorably situated to be the carrier of disease. Cattle 
are subject to tuberculosis; and many investigators believe that 
this is the same as the human disease, or at least that it is inter- 
communicable in man and cattle. 

507. Animals Hurtful to our Animal Friends. — Our domestic 

animals are apparently almost as open to diseases as man 

himself. Hence it is that there are many animal diseases, caused 

by the various parasites of blood and organs. The Texas fever 

of cattle; the hemoglobinuria of cattle and sheep; pebrine, a 

disease of the silkworm; the sleeping sickness of Africa; etc., 

are due to protozoa, and are carried by ticks, flies, and the like. 

The liver-rot and staggers of sheep, and the various tape- worm 

and hook-worm diseases of hogs, dogs, cattle, and man are 
33 



514 ZOOLOGY 

caused by the unsegmented worms. The "bot" diseases of 
horses, sheep, and cattle are produced by the larval stages of 
flies. Mange, itch, etc., as found in various domestic animals, 
are due to the action of mites. These also attack poultry. 

508. Animals Hurtful to Plants and Plant Products. — At 
this point animals, more particularly the insects, do great 
damage to man's interests. The story is too long to tell here, 
but insects attack plants at every stage of their history from 
the time they germinate until the time they are stored. They 
devour foliage, fruits, timbers, seeds, stored grain, and manu- 
factured products. It is said that "the elm has eighty species 
of insects that are more or less supported by it; birches and 
maples, over one hundred; corn is attacked by about two 
hundred species, of which fifty do notable injury and some 
twenty are pests; apple insects number some four hundred 
species." 

It is estimated that the farmers and fruit growers of America 
alone lose above 500,000,000 dollars annually from the ravages of 
insects on crops and forests. Man has done much to control 
most animals except the insects, and something to control them. 
The most effective means thus far found include spraying plants, 
to keep away the females when about to lay, or to kill the young; 
the rotation of the crops in such a way that the insects may hatch 
without finding the kind of food on which they depend ; and the 
introduction of animals, either predatory or parasitic, that attack 
the hurtful species. 

Occasionally through a period of years such animals will 
multiply to such an extent as to become a plague, when in 
ordinary years they merely reduce the returns of the agricultur- 
alist. Such are the outbreaks of the Rocky Mountain locust, 
the Hessian fly, the San Jose scale, the chinch bug, and the like. 
Less frequently similar things happen in respect to other animals, 
as the plague of rabbits in Australia, and of the rats in the 
Bermudas. 

509. Domestication of Animals. — Occasional reference has 
been made in the preceding paragraphs to the domestic animals. 
This means something quite different from the merely useful 
animals. This term refers to the control by man of the life 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 515 

and habits of animals to such degree that he can work his will 
with them almost irrespective of the natural conditions. This 
domestication began before man emerged from the savage 
state — before recorded history began. The dog and cat were 
doubtless among the earliest forms, and the camel, the horse, 
the sheep, the donkey, the hog, the pigeon, the chicken, all 
have been very long in domestication. 

The qualities that would make an animal suitable for 
domestication, and which doubtless helped to determine what 
forms should be domesticated, are: some gentleness of temper 
and lack of extreme nervousness, capability of taking training, 
ability to become adapted to new surroundings, some love of 
locality, and usefulness for food or for some other of man's 
real or fancied needs. The effect of domestication on animals 
has been to soften and dull their original wild instincts, to 
render them less active and alert, to render them dependent on 
the care which man gives them, and to produce a tendency to 
take on fat easily when food is plenty. 

510. The Animal Industries. — The animal industries clus- 
ter chiefly, but not wholly, about the domestic animals. These 
domestic industries relate to horses, cattle, mules, sheep, hogs, 
poultry (including chickens, turkeys, pigeons, geese, and ducks), 
and constitute a large part of agriculture in the United States 
to-day. The successful pursuit of these industries involves a 
scientific knowledge of the animals reared and of their possi- 
bilities and demands. Much of this in the past has been done 
in a haphazard sort of way, somewhat incidental to the raising 
of crops. In the last half -century, however, there has been a 
better application of the known principles of stock-breeding 
and of selection than before. The modern stock-breeder crosses 
and recrosses various strains of cattle or hogs in order to get 
variety of result. Then he selects what pleases him most and 
breeds that in such a way as to fix and increase the features 
which he regards as most profitable, whether it be swiftness, 
size, milk-giving, cream-producing, finer wool, fertility, or the 
power to take on fat. This is the reason we have so many 
varieties of all the animals that have been long in domes- 



516 ZOOLOGY 

tication. Different breeders have been, more or less consciously, 
selecting different qualities in animals. Men are now pushing 
this process even further, and are purposely and systematically 
producing and selecting new and better breeds on a scientific 
basis. The evolution will be correspondingly more rapid. 
Domestication is an experiment in evolution on a grand scale. 
All the animal culture mentioned above is done in con- 
nection with plant culture and often on the best land the 
country has. There are other industries which have great 
possibilities in regions not suited to agriculture. Man has used 
some of the natural resources of these less used regions in a 
very prodigal and reckless way. He has not taken pains to 
look ahead and to act scientifically, simply because he has not 
been compelled to do so. The time, however, has come when 
the farmer uses systematically the less productive parts of his 
farm as well as the more fertile. If not fit for cultivation he 
uses it for sheep or goats or something which is best adapted 
to it. So it must be in the future with the whole earth. The 
oceans, the rivers, the swamps, the ponds and lakes, the arid 
regions, and the mountains must be stocked with animals that 
will contribute to man's food. These animals must be helped 
to take the place of those which are of no use\ This means that 
the various fishing industries, as mackerel, cod, herring; and 
even more particularly the fresh- water fisheries, as the salmon, 
whitefish, and other lake and river fish, shall be more than the 
mere catching and canning of such fish as have been able to 
fight their own way through to successful maturity; they will 
include the bending of all possible agencies to the building up, 
improving, and maintaining the numbers and quality of these 
fish. Oyster, lobster, pearl-mussel, and sponge fishing will be 
more than merely to put on the market the biggest possible 
amount regardless of the future ; it will rather be the stocking of 
all suitable places of the ocean margin that are not more profit- 
ably used for something else with the young of the types wanted, 
keeping away the enemies of the species as well as possible, and 
doing artificially all that can be done to insure their steady and 
profitable growth. The scientific treatment of these industries 
means the putting on the market only those that have got their 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 517 

best growth and with the least injury to the partly grown in- 
dividuals, just as it does on the farm or in the forest. 

The conservation of our natural resources also means that the 
swamp lands, that cannot be drained and used more profitably, 
and the shallow streams shall be made to produce edible frogs 
or turtles instead of the other inedible amphibians and reptiles. 
Wherever edible fish can grow pains will be taken to place them 
and see that the conditions of their best life are given them. 

Various bureaus of the United States Government, as that 
of Animal Industry, of Fish and Fisheries, of Entomology, and 
the like; the Agricultural Experiment Stations and the Natural 
History Surveys of the various States ; the scientific men in the 
universities and colleges, and many practical workers who are 
in these fields in a commercial way, are studying the problems 
suggested in this chapter and are trying to add to the vital 
resources of the human race and its increasing population. It 
is the duty of every American to get into a sympathetic attitude 
to all this work. 

511. Topics for the Library. — 1. Give a report of the United States Bureau of 
Fish and Fisheries. How is it organized? What are its principal stations? 
What work does it undertake to do? What are its chief publications? 

2. Discuss similarly the Bureau of Animal Industry; the Bureau of Entomology; 
the Biological Survey. 

3. Give an account of one of the inland fish hatcheries and its work. 

4. Why are the vegetable feeding animals preferred for food above the 
carnivora ? 

5. Why are woolen fabrics warmer than cotton or linen? 

6. Will the vegetable food or the animal food that can be produced and sup- 
ported on ten acres of ground go further in supporting human life ? Discuss 
carefully. 

7. Do you think the tendency will be to increase or to decrease animal culture 
as population begins to press upon the resources of the soil? Give the biological 
reasons fully. 

8. What are the chief arguments against vivisection and experiments on living 
animals by investigators? What the chief arguments in favor of it? 

9. Discuss the various products of the hog, utilized in the packing houses. 

10. Discuss the animals that frequent human habitations, becoming pests 
in some degree. Give the habits of life of each so far as you can by study and 
reference. 

11. Discuss with some care what is known of the history, the different varieties, 
the use, etc., of some of the domestic animals, as the dog, the horse, the fowl, the 
ox, and others. 

12. Discuss human slavery as a zoological phenomenon. To what is due the 
tendency to abolish it? 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

DEVELOPMENT OF ZOOLOGY 

512. Introduction. — Long before man discovered a way to 
record his knowledge he must have learned much about plants 
and animals. His well-being depended on it. Here he got his 
food. His most dreaded enemies were the great mammals that 
were on the earth when he appeared. His success in evading 
his enemies and in capturing his food made it necessary that he 
know something of their haunts and habits. As he learned to 
domesticate some of these animals, both for protection and for 
food supply, his knowledge was extended. As the animals were 
slaughtered for food and clothing and for his primitive religious 
rites, he learned something of their internal structure. This 
early knowledge probably had little pure scientific interest back 
of it. Most of it was incidental to the uses he made of the 
animals, doubtless reinforced somewhat by the feeling of wonder 
and the esthetic sense. In a similar way human accidents, pain, 
diseases, and deaths doubtless led to some study of the human 
body and its care and cure, as soon as human intelligence was 
able to grasp the situation. 

It is not easy for us to whom the discoveries of the last 400 
years are a well known story to realize how fragmentary and 
unscientific were the ideas of the early times. 

513. The Greek and Roman Periods.— So far as we need con- 
sider here, the foundations of modern zoology were laid by Aris- 
totle (384-322 B.C.). It must not be imagined however that 
his was the first effort to bring together the knowledge already 
gained. For example, ancient Egyptian documents twelve 
centuries older than Aristotle give elaborate discussions of 
medical subjects. 

Aristotle is chiefly known as a philosopher and logician; but 
he was a most prolific student in many realms. He made two 
great contributions to natural history: (1) he brought together 

518 



DEVELOPMENT OE ZOOLOGY 519 

in three works — " Historia Animaliurn" "DePartibus, " and "De 
Generatione" — what was known of the nature and classification 
of animals, their anatomy, and their development; and (2) in 
his own great discoveries he, more than any other of the ancients, 
insisted on the scientific method of depending on observed facts 
rather than on tradition. 

He did the first task so well that his successors did little 
to follow his scientific point of view for nearly 2,000 years, 
but merely asked what Aristotle had said on the subject. 

Another Greek, Galen, did for medicine very much what 
Aristotle did for zoology. He made anatomy and physiology 
the foundation of medicine. Because it was forbidden to 
dissect the human body, he studied the bodies of monkeys 
and other mammals. For centuries his successors, also, followed 
his conclusions without using his methods. 

The name of the Roman, Pliny (23-79 A - D is usually men- 
tioned here because of a great collection of writings on natural 
phenomena. He fell away, however, from the spirit of Aristotle 
and Galen, and brought together without much discrimina- 
tion facts and nature-anecdotes of the most fanciful kind. The 
Romans did very little for natural science. 

514. The Middle Ages. — During this remarkable period of 
human history (400-1500 a.d.) practically no progress was 
made in the natural sciences. It was a period of waning of 
the old human civilizations and the incubation of the new. 
Wars, difficulty of travel, the other-world attitude of the 
Christian church, and many other things discouraged observa- 
tion of nature and discovery. It was a time of mysticism, of 
metaphysical speculation, and of large dependence on the 
authorities. A large portion of it has been called, not inappro- 
priately, the Dark Ages. 

515. The Modern Period (1 500-1 900) and its Specializations. 
— In every department of human interest the revival following 
the ' ' dark ages ' ' is one of the most remarkable movements of 
history. This is no less true in our science than elsewhere. It 
was more than a revival of interest. The authority of the 
church and of the past had so intrenched itself that the greatest 
difficulty lay in getting back freedom of investigation and 



520 ZOOLOGY 

utterance. The first task was to throw off tradition and 
authority. The names of Gallileo, Descartes, and Vesalius be- 
long to this period of revival. Italy had a large part in the 
renewal of scientific work, as in other fields such as art and 
literature. 

Starting with the general interest in natural history and 
classification and in medicine and anatomy, which was seen in 
the work of Aristotle and Galen, the modern period has de- 
veloped a great many special departments, as the various 
workers have followed particular studies. We may profitably 
consider the progress in Biology under the following heads: 
(i) Natural history and classification; (2) Anatomy and its 
departments; (3) Physiology; (4) Embryology; (5) Philosophy 
of Biology; and (6) Applications of Biology. Of course these 
divisions of interest took shape only gradually, and a worker 
often contributed to several departments, especially at the 
outset. 

516. Natural History and Systematic Zoology. — Naturally 
enough, until the more important animals had been recorded 
and compared and classified and their more striking habits and 
modes of living studied, these general considerations would 
present a most fruitful and enticing field of investigation. 
Gesner (1516-1565), a Swiss physician, studied animals widely 
and wrote a "history of animals" which was the best general 
zoology since Aristotle. His work, which was profusely illus- 
trated, largely influenced later studies. 

Ray (1629-1705), an Englishman, was a student of both 
plants and animals. In addition to his own original studies and 
discoveries he introduced the idea of the species as a definite 
group of organisms arising from similar parents. He was thus 
the real founder of modern systematic biology, and the fore- 
runner of the great Swedish naturalist Linnaeus (1 707-1 778), who 
published the Systema Natures in an effort to describe all the 
known species of plants and animals. Linnaeus combined 
Ray's species with the genus, and first used the generic and spe- 
cific names as the name of the organism (binominal nomen- 
clature). He invented also the brief descriptions of genera and 



DEVELOPMENT OF ZOOLOGY 52 1 

species. His work greatly stimulated systematic studies and 
laid the foundation for work in other fields of zoology. 

Buflon (1 707-1 788), in his Natural History, Cuvier (1769- 
1832) in his ''Animal Kingdom," Lamarck (1 774-1829), von 
Siebold (1804-188 5) and many later naturalists have worked 
to perfect our system of classification of animals. 

517. Anatomy and its Divisions. — We have seen that Galen 
studied the anatomy of lower mammals to throw light on 
medicine. His accounts became the accepted rule for centuries. 
Vesalius (15 14-1564) a physician, born in Brussels, made elabo- 
rate studies of the anatomy of the human body as well as of 
many other animals. He published a great work on the ' ' Struc- 
ture of the Human Body," in which he denied many of the views 
held previously. His discoveries were illustrated by many 
most effective figures and plates. Both because of the scope of 
his work and of this investigative spirit Vesalius laid the founda- 
tion of modern scientific Biology. It was not so much that all 
his conclusions were correct. He did what was much better; he 
made it possible for his successors to criticise and add to his 
work by following his own attitude. This makes progress. 

From the study of the habits and exterior of animals, and 
the study of human anatomy, students would naturally pass to 
a study of internal structures. As time passed and details of 
structure accumulated, two new lines of study would be devel- 
oped : a closer comparison of the structure of different organisms, 
and, second, the study of smaller and smaller structures. The 
former is called Comparative Anatomy, and the latter Histology 
and Cytology. 

As in all other branches of Zoology there were forerunners 
of the chief discoverers, but the French naturalist Cuvier, 
mentioned above, was the first zoologist to undertake to compare 
the structures of all the groups of animals on a wide scale. His 
work strongly influenced his successors, particularly in France. 
He was thus the real founder of comparative anatomy. It was 
on the basis of these studies in anatomy that he made his con- 
tribution to the classification of animals. Some of those who 
continued the work of Cuvier were, Milne-Edwards (1800-1885) 



522 ZOOLOGY 

a Frenchman, who gave us the idea of differentiation of parts and 
division of labor and showed its value; Richard Owen (1804- 
1892) an Englishman who developed the contrasts of analogy 
and homology in organs (see §113); Thomas Huxley (1825- 
1895), who did much to popularize zoology and to introduce the 
laboratory method into schools; Karl Gegenbauer (1 826-1 903), 
whose power of analysis and discrimination have made per- 
manently available the work of his predecessors; and the 
American, E. D. Cope (1840-1897), who added greatly to our 
knowledge particularly in the comparative anatomy both of liv- 
ing and fossil forms of vertebrates. 

From the study of the organs interest passed continually to 
the smaller and smaller units, — tissues and cells. Bichat (1 7 7 1- 
1801) a brilliant French anatomist studied the tissues of the 
body, especially the membranes and their function and disorders. 
While he did not make use of the compound microscope as his 
successors did he opened up the new field. At this time the 
microscope had been in use for a half century or more. Its 
improvement and Bichat' s work soon brought about a recogni- 
tion of the cells of which the tissues are made. Schwann (1810- 
1882) and Schleiden (1 804-1 881) conjointly demonstrated that 
the cell is the essential unit of organization both in plants and 
animals. This was in 1838. As early as 1809, Lamarck antici- 
pated this conclusion, but did not have the supporting mass of 
evidence possessed by Schwann and Schleiden. Cells in plants 
had been seen by the Englishman, Hooke, as early as 1665. 
Brown, also an Englishman, described the nucleus in 1833; but 
during this time no great importance was attached to the facts. 
In 1 86 1, Max Schultze (182 5-1874) was the first to make clear 
that it is the protoplasm, rather than the cell as such, that is 
fundamental. 

From this time on the study of protoplasm and its minute 
structures, its chemistry, and activities, — cytology — has been 
one of the most attractive and profitable fields of research. 
The improvements in the microscope, in sectioning and staining 
cells, and the like, have made possible some of the most brilliant 
attacks on the mysteries of life. From these studies we have 
our knowlege of the nucleus, the chromosomes, the centro- 



DEVELOPMENT OF ZOOLOGY 523 

somes, the mitochondria as organized parts of the cell; we have 
learned of the texture and chemical qualities of protoplasm; 
we have discovered the complexities of nuclear division and 
the relation of cell structure and the behavior of the nuclear 
units to heredity. It is impossible in a brief statement such as 
this to discuss the whole list of brilliant investigators who have 
had a part in this. The German biologists have been peculiarly 
prolific in this work. The names of Nageli, von Mohl, Cohn, 
De Bary, Virchow, and many others should be mentioned. 
Boveri in 1900 first stated the law of the constancy of number 
of chromosomes in the cells of any one species. Our own Ed- 
mund B. Wilson of Columbia University has done as much as 
any zoologist to delimit what has been accomplished from what is 
yet to be done, and to stimulate the continual pushing forward 
of the boundaries of our knowledge of intimate cell structure and 
behavior. The last thirty years have been rich in American 
contribution in this department of Zoology. 

518. Physiology. — Wm. Harvey (1578-1667), an English- 
man, may be credited with the founding of physiology as an ex- 
perimental science. His best known work was his demonstration 
of the circulation of the blood. Haller (1708-17 7 7) studied 
physiology as independent of human anatomy and medicine, 
as a worthy science of its own. Johannes Muller (1801-1858) 
made a modern science of it. He brought to bear in its study the 
comparative method which was so fruitful in anatomy, and made 
use of the microscope and of physics and chemistry in its inter- 
pretation. His work has justly dominated the science until the 
present. Following Muller and continuing his work were Du 
Bois-Reymond (1818-1896), Claude Bernard (1813-1878), and 
Liebig, a master in physiological chemistry. Michael Foster 
of England and Verworn in Germany have done great work in 
the subject in recent times. 

519. Embryology. — The beginnings of human thinking con- 
cerning the origin and development of animals was even more 
crude than in other realms of Zoology. Even Aristotle thought 
that frogs and many other animals arose spontaneously from 
mud, maggots from meat, and the like. Redi (162 6-1 6 9 7), an 



524 ZOOLOGY 

Italian physician, showed experimentally that maggots arose 
from the eggs of flies. Harvey, to whom we have already 
referred, and Malpighi (162 8-1 694) an Italian histologist and 
one of the first to make much use of the microscope, were the 
pioneers of embryology. They studied chiefly the development 
of the chick and a few mammals. Harvey announced that all 
animals arose from eggs. Malpighi thought that parts of the 
embryo already existed in the egg in miniature. During the 
next hundred years this theory (known as the preformation 
theory) took strong hold on the imagination of the students of 
the subject, and the physiologists Haller, Bonnet, Leibnitz, etc., 
developed the idea that the miniature embryo, preformed in the 
egg, must in its turn contain the next generation also preformed 
in miniature, and this the next, and so on indefinitely. About 
1677 it was discovered that the sperm united with the egg, and 
some believed that the miniatures were in the sperm rather than 
in the egg. Kaspar Wolff in 1759 attacked the whole preforma- 
tion theory, and held the egg to be unorganized at first, with no 
trace of the future organs in it. He believed some vital prin- 
ciple organized the undifferentiated material into an embryo. 
Bitterly opposed at first, his general view came to dominate 
Embryology. 

Von Baer (1 792-1876) is recognized as the greatest of early 
embryologists. He adopted the comparative point of view 
in embryology, as Cuvier had for anatomy and Muller had for 
physiology and with equal fruitfulness. Von Baer discovered 
that all the higher types of animals develop first germ layers 
(ectoderm, entoderm, and mesoderm), and that the organs are 
formed by the growth and foldings of these. 

The increasing knowledge of cell structure and behavior 
added greatly to progress in embryology. During these years 
it became clear that the egg and the sperm were single cells, 
that the fertilized ovum divides (cleavage) as ordinary cells do; 
that the descendants of these cells become different in the 
different layers, tissues, and organs, as they are formed. Gegen- 
bauer, Koelliker, Huxley, Haeckel and many others made 
contributions at these points. 

Building on the preceding work Francis Balfour (1851-1882) 



DEVELOPMENT OF ZOOLOGY 525 

of Cambridge, England, published in 1881 his monumental 
" Comparative Embryology." It made available the best 
conclusions of the past and developed general points of view 
that had only slightly or not at all appeared. Many great 
zoologists have given large attention to embryology since this 
time. In Germany, Fol, Oscar Hertwig, William His, Roux; 
and in America, Brooks, Minot, Mark, Whitman, Wilson, Loeb, 
and Morgan have made brilliant contributions to our knowledge. 
These include the study of the processes of fertilization and the 
behavior of the cellular elements therein; the nature of the 
chromosomes and their part in heredity; the effect of external 
agencies upon development; the origin of the special types of 
tissues ; the continuity of the germ plasm and even of germ cells 
in the cycle of generations. 

520. Philosophy of Biology. — In the early periods of human 
thinking the theories outran the facts. During all the time 
much of philosophy has accompanied the discoveries. So all the 
great names that have been mentioned have contributed some- 
thing to our philosophy of Biology. Important as the field 
is we can here only mention a few salient steps. Some of 
them have already been suggested. The nature of some of 
them has been more completely discussed in Ch. XXVI. These 
problems include the origin and nature of living things, the 
causes that have operated to bring them to their present state, 
and the principles that seem to underlie the process. 

It may be said that two main theories obtained among the 
ancients to explain life as we have it on the earth. One held 
that organisms were created supernaturally much as they are 
at present, closely suited to the environment in which they 
live. The other considered that in some way the present is a 
natural development from the past, and that organisms have 
grown into their various adjustments to external conditions. 
It is impossible to say how early this latter idea of evolution, so 
generally held at present, originated. We find evidences of it 
before Aristotle and still more in his writings. 

Theoretically, the following views of life might be held : 

1. That life has always been on the earth, and only life 
can give rise to life. 



526 ZOOLOGY 

2 . That at some time life appeared on the earth, from non-life, 

a. Suddenly, much as it is at present. 

b. Gradually, starting in simple form and becoming 
complex as at present. 

Two fundamental questions are here : Did life start de novo at 
some time? Has it remained constant since it started? 
Another has arisen since: Can life start anew at present (spon- 
taneous generation) ? 

John Ray about 1725 crystallized and gave formal support 
to the idea held by Linnaeus and many of his predecessors that 
organisms arose de novo, by special creation, and since that time 
have remained practically constant. Cuvier also gave this view 
the support of his influence. Lamarck (1 774-1829) contended 
that species were changeable, that the fossils in the strata were 
remains of extinct species which were the ancestors of the present 
ones. He held that the needs of the organism resulting in the 
use and disuse of organs, and the action of the environment upon 
the organism changed individuals and that these modifications 
were transmitted in some measure to the next generation. Thus 
he thought evolution occurred. He was the founder of the 
evolution theory in its modern sense and made an effort to put 
it on a rational basis. 

Charles Darwin (1 809-1 882), accepting essentially La- 
marck's views, added to them the principle of natural selection 
(§137) through the struggle for existence and the elimination 
of the unfit. This was his great contribution. It was so rea- 
sonable and he supported it with such an array of facts that it 
put the evolution idea on a firm footing and stimulated bio- 
logical thought and investigation more perhaps than any other 
suggestion ever proposed. A. R. Wallace shares with Darwin 
the honor of discovering the idea of natural selection, although 
the latter's statement was theoretical rather than experimental. 

With the work of Darwin the idea of the variability of species 
may be said to have been generally accepted by scientists. 
The questions now came to hinge upon the method of origin of 
the variations and their transmissibility to new generations. 

August Weismann (1834-1915) held that body characters, 
gained as Lamarck suggested by use and disuse of the body 



DEVELOPMENT OP ZOOLOGY 527 

could not be transmitted to the next generation. Only those 
changes which take place in the germ plasm could be inherited. 
He advanced the idea of a continuous germ plasm from which 
body after body arises in successive generations. Weismann 
held therefore that Lamarck's supposed factors could have 
nothing to do with evolution. Their influence stops with the 
body of the individual. He gave more value to natural selection 
than even Darwin. He emphasized also the union of two lines 
of germ plasm at fertilization as the principal source of 
variations. 

Gregor Mendel (182 2-1 884) through his breeding experi- 
ments produced facts which strongly support Weisman's idea 
of continuity of germ plasm. 

DeVries and Johanssen, living biologists, have strongly 
called in question Darwin's explanation by showing that the 
small fluctuations (continuous variations) of body which Darwin 
emphasized are not disposed to accumulate by selection. In 
other words the offspring of parents which show bodily fluctua- 
tions do not themselves vary about this new point as a mean. 
DeVries believes that only "mutations" (discontinuous varia- 
tions) arising in the germ plasm are subject to inheritance. 
There is however probably no necessary conflict between the 
basic discoveries of Darwin, Weismann, Mendel, DeVries, 
Johanssen. When all the facts are known we shall probably 
find that all of them have found some truth, and that none of 
this is as potent as its discoverer imagined. For example, 
even if natural selection does not operate to accumulate fluctua- 
tions, it doubtless does preserve suitable mutations. 

521. Applications of Biology. — From the earliest days when 
Biology was a mere appendage to medicine and of the act of 
living, it has been making continuous contributions to human 
welfare. It has given us more knowledge of the health and 
working of our own body; it has made possible the wonders of 
surgery; it has enabled us to master many of the contagious 
and infectious diseases of men and animals ; it has taught us how 
to culture, breed, and select plants and animals for our uses, 
and to prepare their products to best advantage. A very large 
proportion of human industry depends directly upon Biology. 



528 ZOOLOGY 

Some of the steps in the progress of medicine have been 
outlined heretofore. Many of the early biologists we have seen 
to be physicians. 

Leeuwenhoek, one of the early users of the microscope, dis- 
covered bacteria in 1687. Soon after this it was first suggested 
that microscopic forms might have something to do with con- 
tagious diseases. In 1840, Heale took the position that all such 
diseases are caused by germs. 

Louis Pasteur (182 2- 1895), a Frenchman, was one of the 
most remarkable scientists of all time. He discovered that 
fermentation is due to microscopic organisms (1^57) ; established 
the actual connection between certain germs and the diseases 
produced by them; showed that germs could be made less 
harmful by being grown in certain conditions, and that these 
attenuated germs would produce only a mild form of the 
disease which would, however, give immunity just as fully as 
the severer forms. He succeeded in inoculating against fowl 
cholera, splenic fever of cattle, and finally against hydro- 
phobia. In the institute which bears his name similar principles 
have been extended to bubonic plague, lockjaw, and other 
diseases. Here also was discovered the antitoxin for diphtheria. 
Robert Koch, born in 1843, is the Pasteur of Germany. He 
discovered and isolated the germ of tuberculosis (1881) and of 
Asiatic cholera (1883). Sir Joseph Lister the great English 
surgeon, born in 1827, using Pasteur's discoveries first applied 
antiseptics to wounds in order to destroy the germs that might 
enter. This was the foundation of aseptic surgery which under- 
takes so to sterilize everything brought near an operation that 
germs shall not enter at all. 

One of the most interesting things to hold in mind about 
biological discoveries is this : it is impossible to tell how impor- 
tant to human welfare any discovery may prove to be. No one 
could have imagined that these students with the microscope 
studying the organisms of decomposition would be led gradually 
to the most profoundly important facts bearing on human life. 
It was not quite 200 years from the discovery of bacteria until 
Pasteur had discovered a way to overcome some of the diseases 
produced by them. Similar biological work done upon other 



DEVELOPMENT OF ZOOLOGY 529 

parasites, both micro-organisms and larger parasites, is gradually 
giving us mastery of yellow fever, syphilis, hookworm disease, 
and many others both of man himself and of the domestic 
animals. 

Other fields in which the discoveries of the students of 
biology have been most valuable in practical life are : the breed- 
ing and improvement of our food and forage plants; the im- 
provements of the domestic animals; the encouragement of 
wild food animals, as oysters and fish; the preservation of 
foods ; conservation of forests ; the holding in check the pests, 
largely insect, that often threaten to exterminate domestic 
plants and animals. In these fields great progress will continue, 

With our increased knowledge of heredity and breeding, 
scientists are asking the question whether these principles which 
have done so much to improve the races of plants and animals 
may not be used to secure more rapid progress in man. Pearson, 
Bateson, Davenport and others claim perfectly soundly that 
many imperfections, such as imbecility, epilepsy, criminality, 
insanity, and other inheritable weaknesses, are bred back into 
the blood of the race every generation by unsound individuals. 
This process in our herds would produce scrubs. It is believed 
that the race owes itself the duty not merely to care for the in- 
dividual after he is born, but to strive to see that every individual 
shall be as well born as possible. This science of human breeding 
is called Eugenics, and will doubtless have something important 
to do in answering the question as to the ultimate fate of the 
human race on the earth. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

EXERCISES IN COMPARATIVE PHYSIOLOGY, MORPHOLOGY, AND 

ECOLOGY 

522. Now that the student has studied in some detail the 
work which even the simplest organisms must perform, the 
organs by means of which this necessary work is done in some 
of the principal types, and the relations which animals assume 
to each other and to the environment in general, it is desirable 
that he should bring these facts into such relations that they 
may be compared. The likenesses, the unlikenesses, and the 
progressive differentiation are thus brought into clear relief. 
The following outline exercises are intended to guide the stu- 
dent in this task. They are by no means exhaustive, but will 
suggest the principal points most essential to such a resume. 
The laboratory notes, the textbook, and all the reference books 
at his command, should be used by the student. The student 
should be able to cite his authority for all important statements 
not his own, and, if possible, corroborate by reference to more 
than one authority. Tables with parallel columns such as 
those on pages 344 and 347 furnish an economical and other- 
wise satisfactory mode of displaying the results of these studies. 

I. Fundamental Form (Promorphology) . — Indicate for each 
of the important phyla, or for chosen representatives of them, 
the following matters of general form: kind of symmetry rep- 
resented and the perfection of its development; the degree and 
character of segmentation; the position, number, character, 
and arrangement of the appendages; the external and the in- 
ternal evidences of cephalization ; the relation of the principal 
organs of the animal to the horizontal and vertical planes. 

II. Physiology and Morphology. — Compare the mode of 
performing the following functions and the organs used therein, 
in all the principal animal phyla. 

1. The capture of food: the method; the organs devoted to 
it; and the relation of these to the nature of the food used. 

2. Digestion; physical and chemical. 

S3o 



EXERCISES 531 

3. Circulation, as pertaining both to the nature of circulat- 
ing fluid and to the organs moving it ; the relation of the whole 
process to the organs and function of digestion and respira- 
tion in the types chosen. 

4. Respiration: the medium containing the oxygen, and the 
contrivances for securing it. 

5. Excretion: note and classify the chief modes of elimin- 
ating waste materials observed in the animal phyla. 

6. The body cavity (ccelom) in relation to digestion, cir- 
culation and excretion. 

7. Physical support and protection (skeletal structures); 
their position, structure, and mode of formation. 

8. Motion and locomotion: degree of each; relation of the 
muscular or contractile elements to the skeletal. The medium 
used in locomotion; the principal special devices in each group 
for the solution of the problems presented by the medium. 

9. Sensitiveness: the kinds of stimuli to which the organ- 
isms in the various groups react; the differences in the differ- 
ent phyla in each of the various classes of sense organs, as to 
structure, position, and manner of action; the number, position 
and perfection of the nerve centres; and the relation of the 
nerve centres to the sense organs and to the muscles. 

10. Reproduction. The various methods, and the special 
ends accomplished by each; rate; number of offspring; paren- 
tal care; sex dimorphism; alternation of generation; partheno- 
genesis. 

III. Ecology and Adaptations to the Environment. — Com- 
pare the animal groups from the following points of view. 

1. General habitat: aquatic, fresh or salt water; terrestrial; 
aerial. 

2. Migration or other special means of effecting distribution 
from the point of origin. 

3. Degree of connection, organic or social, between the in- 
dividuals of a species; gregarious, social and communal life; 
resulting social qualities; degree of division of labor; poly- 
morphism. 

4. Power of regenerating lost parts. 

5. Growth; rate, and ultimate size; longevity. Special 
hindrances to growth. 



532 ZOOLOGY 

6. Relation to human welfare: use as food; effects on crops 
and domestic animals; the production or dissemination of dis- 
ease in man; capability of domestication; other qualities help- 
ful or hurtful to human interests. Which phyla furnish spe- 
cies susceptible of domestication ? 

7. Diseases among animals other than man. 

8. Coloration: pigments, internal and external; other modes 
of producing color; location of the color; supposed uses. 

9. Principal methods of avoiding or surviving unfavorable 
periods, as cold, drouth, and the like. 

10. Qualities of offense and defense. 

11. Protective resemblance and mimicry. Other passive 
modes of protection. 

12. Parasitism and the degree of degeneracy resulting 
from it. The more obvious effects upon the hosts. 

IV. Geographical Distribution. — Select several representa- 
tive species from each animal phylum and learn everything 
you can concerning their distribution on the earth. Are they 
local species or cosmopolitan species? What seems to be the 
reason for the fact? Are all the phyla cosmopolitan? Com- 
pare the animal phyla from the following points of view: 

1. The facilities for migration. The special modes of 
migration, both active and passive. 

2. What are the principal barriers to migration and distri- 
bution in the case of the representatives chosen for study ? 

3. Find instances of species of animals apparently closely 
related, with different geographical distribution. Compare, 
for example, the species of hares and rabbits found in North 
America; the species of lynx; of bears; of the alligators; spe- 
cies of Unio; of the lobster; of the genus Equus. 

4. Make a local map of the region about your school on a 
large scale. Show all ponds, streams, lakes, marshes, mead- 
ows, uplands, forests, etc. Show by suitable symbols where 
various species of animals are to be found with reasonable 
certainty. Keep in a note-book belonging to the laboratory 
a memorandum of each new species found, and of a new local- 
ity for a known species. In time the map and the note-book 
will be a good account of the local distribution of species. 



APPENDIX 

LABORATORY SUGGESTIONS 

i. The Relation of the Descriptive Work to that of the Laboratory and Field. 

— If time were of no consideration, it would perhaps be desirable for each student 
to get all his information concerning animals at first hand. Even under this 
most favorable assumption, however, his information would have a detached and 
unrelated quality which can only be corrected by lectures or textbook. This 
indicates the author's view of the purpose of the body of the text. It is to con- 
serve the pupil's time and to unify his own necessarily scattered observations in 
such a way as to give them a vital and permanent interest. For this end the 
practical work in each phylum of animals should precede the descriptive and not 
be used merely to illustrate it. The textbook instruction and library references 
should have a much wider scope and fuller illustrative detail than is possible 
in the laboratory. 

2. The Nature of the Practical Work. — Personally the author has little sym- 
pathy with the sentiment, so much in evidence in past years, that the most bizarre 
and superficially interesting phenomena are the ones most likely to lead to good 
educational results. These may be well enough in their place, but their best 
possible place when not abused is only to heighten interest in the more important 
relations and phenomena of animal life. The animal furnishes interesting and 
important facts in two essential relations: (i) the internal, in connection with which 
we are concerned equally with the fundamental structure and with its relation to 
the work to be done by the organism; and (2) the external, in which we are in- 
terested in this same work done by the parts of the organism, but in relation to 
the conditions on the outside of the animal. Physiology is thus the connecting 
link between morphology and ecology. The exercises of this book have been 
arranged in the main to lead the student to see first what the animal types do; 
secondly, the relation of this activity to the outside world; and thirdly, the more 
important structures by which this relation is maintained. The practical work 
should then be (1) physiological, which involves both the field and the laboratory; 
(2) ecological, chiefly in the field; and (3) morphological, chiefly in the laboratory. 
In each case the student should be caused to take the attitude of answering 
questions, preferably of his own asking, rather than of verifying descriptions. 
The laboratory outlines seek to raise questions rather than to supply answers, and 
to suggest topics of value rather than to exhaust the subject. The best possible outline 
is that which pupil and teacher construct together. 

3. The Order of Work and the Time to be Given (see table). — The author has 
arranged the matter in the book as it appears to him it should be presented if 
the various organisms were always available when needed, a condition which 
every teacher knows to be contrary to fact. Everything considered, the author 
thinks the best results may be had by beginning the year's work in the spring term 
and finishing it in the autumn term of the next year. No arrangement of courses 

533 



534 



ZOOLOGY 



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LABORATORY SUGGESTIONS 535 

can be best for all, but the following tables may be suggestive as to the order of 
treatment, time to be devoted to various types, and the like. "Practical" is 
meant to include field work, laboratory work, demonstrations, and themes worked 
out in the library. A whole year's work is supposed to embrace not less than 
three class-room periods and two double laboratory periods a week for about 
thirty-six weeks. The author has purposely placed at the disposal of the teacher in 
this textbook about twice as much work as can be done well in the allotted time. 
The purpose of this is that each teacher may have the privilege of electing material 
most suited to the special circumstances, and yet have before him an ideal of 
what a thorough elementary course should cover. 

For a course covering one-half year and given in the spring term the order 
would be about that of I and the time about as in III. In a course of one-half 
year the bulk of the matter in fine print should be omitted, or used in just such 
measure as time will permit. The marine forms, which the majority of schools 
will have to study from preserved materials, and the general part of the. text 
(Chapters I to VIII) should be studied in the winter months when the local animals 
are least active. In connection with the review in Chapter XXIX, Chapters I 
to VIII should be reread by the student. Such a review will be especially helpful 
after the student has a larger body of zoological details at his command. Chap- 
ters XXV to XXVIII will strengthen the general impressions gained in the 
earlier parts. 

4. The Laboratory and its Equipment. — (a) The laboratory or work room 
should be well lighted, and supplied with flat- topped tables; the plainer, the 
better. These should be 29 to 30 inches in height. If possible each student 
should have a drawer where he may keep his instruments and records. Sinks 
with running water are of course very desirable. Slop-jars of earthenware should 
be provided for refuse dissections, and the like. 

(6) There should also be another room in which living animals may be kept. 
Very often a part of the basement with south exposure may be utilized for this 
purpose. The temperature should not fall to the freezing point, nor rise unduly 
when the furnace is heated. In such a room as this many animals may be kept 
much beyond the period when they disappear outside. Fruit jars, tumblers, 
shallow glass or crockery dishes, and, best of all, battery- jars of various sizes should 
be accumulated here. With a little ingenuity aquarium vessels of good size, with 
glass sides, may be made by means of good quality of pine boxes, putty, and panes 
of glass. A square may be taken from the middle of two opposite sides of such a 
box and the window inserted in such a way as to give good illumination of the 
interior. Running water is even more of a necessity here than in the laboratory. 
A few bell jars, wire gauze cages for insects, boxes of various kinds for other 
animals complete the list of the most essential features of a good working vivarium. 
It is always desirable to have some green water-plants in the vessels of water con- 
taining aquatic animals, e.g., bladder- wort, watercress, duck weed, and spirogyra. 

Each student should have access to a good compound microscope. It is 
possible for two students to work together with one instrument, but such a plan 
is never very satisfactory. At the outset the teacher should give careful instruc- 
tions to the student in the use and care of the compound microscope. The 
laboratory should also supply dissecting pans of heavy tin, six or eight by twelve 
inches, with flaring sides, and one and one-half inches deep. Pour into these a 
small amount of melted paraffin mixed with lampblack. This forms an excellent 



536 ZOOLOGY 

bottom for pinning specimens to be dissected. There should also be a bone 
cutter, a syringe with rubber tubing and glass canulas for injecting the blood vessels, 
a supply of small pipettes, a few pipettes with large bulb, and two or three flat- 
bottomed watch glasses for each student. 

Each pupil should have, in addition, a good hand lens; a scalpel; a pair of fine- 
pointed scissors; a pair of forceps; a probe; dissecting needles; a small supply of 
glass slides and cover-glasses. 

(d) Reagents. — The number of necessary reagents for a beginner's course is not 
large. The following are the most essential. 

Preserving Reagents. Alcohol. — This is the most used of all reagents. It is a 
preserving fluid. It hardens organic matter by withdrawing the water from it. 
Commercial alcohol is usually of a strength of about 90 to 95 per cent. Specimens 
should first be placed in 50 per cent, alcohol and then in a day or two be trans- 
ferred to a stronger grade (70 per cent.). After such treatment they may be 
preserved permanently in a strength of 70 to 80 per cent. Plenty of the preserva- 
tive must be supplied, and care must be taken that it does not lose too much 
strength by evaporation. Animals must be opened, so that the fluid may the more 
quickly enter the cavities. 

Alcohol may be secured free of the revenue tax by incorporated institutions, by 
application to the collector of internal revenue of the district in which the school 
is located. Application should be made several months before the alcohol is 
needed. 

Formalin has been much used in recent years as a substitute for alcohol, or 
in combination with it, as a preservative. It is a 40 per cent, solution of formalde- 
hyde in water, and be further reduced by adding water. A 10 per cent, solution of 
formalin is made by taking 10 parts of commercial formalin and adding 90 parts of 
water. This fluid will safely preserve materials through the term. The same care 
must be observed as with alcohol. The specimens should be washed in water 
before studying, as formol is irritating to the mucous membranes of nose, throat, 
and eyes. 

Killing Reagents. — Choloroform is usually used as a stupefying reagent. Air- 
breathing animals exposed to its fumes are soon rendered unconscious, and die in 
a relaxed condition. 

Minute water animals as Hydra, Dero, and the like, are often advantageously 
killed by sudden immersion in hot water or hot corrosive sublimate (saturated solu- 
tion). 

Staining Reagents.— : A few stains are of advantage, if there is any attempt to 
study tissues or the Protozoa. 

Magenta (aqueous solution). One part by weight of the dry magenta or fuchsin 
in 100 parts of water. Stains fresh tissues well, but is not a nuclear stain. 

Methyl green; 1 per cent, aqueous solution. Add one part of acetic acid to 100 
parts of this. The resulting fluid is a superior nuclear stain for elementary 
work. 

Mounting Reagents. — Water, alcohol of different strengths, glycerine, and 
normal salt solution ( % per cent, solution of common salt) are the more commonly 
used materials for temporary mounting of objects to be examined under the 
microscope. The normal salt solution is especially valuable for delicate fresh 
tissues, blood, and the like 

The teacher, if inexperienced in technic, must consult works on microscopical 
methods for information about the making of permanent mounts. 



LABORATORY SUGGESTIONS 537 

Beside the materials mentioned above it is often desirable to have other sub- 
stances, — as sugar, acids, salts, and some of the oils, as xyolol, benzol, and the like. 
These should be added gradually as their necessity and uses become apparent. 

Injection Masses. — For the study of the veins and arteries and other tubular 
structures it is often desirable to inject into them foreign substances which prevent 
their collapse and render them easy of identification. For this purpose a syringe 
and some rubber tubing and small canulas are necessary. Injection masses to be 
satisfactory should be fluid when injected and be able to "set" or harden, after 
injection. For ordinary work the following will serve: 

i. Starch injection mass: 

Dry laundry starch I volume. 

2^ per cent, aqueous solution chloral hydrate I volume. 

95 per cent, alcohol . 34 volume. 

Coloring mixture 34 volume. 

The coloring mixture is prepared by mixing equal parts of 95 per cent, alcohol, 
glycerine, and dry carmine (vermilion, chrome yellow or Prussian blue). The 
solid color should be ground into small portions of the fluids in a mortar so that no 
lumps will be present in the mass. This mixture does not spoil with age, but must 
always be well stirred before using and the injecting must be rapidly done, as the 
solids settle quickly. 

2. Gum or Gelatine Injection Masses. — It is often desirable to have a mass which 
can be forced through the finer vessels, as the blood capillaries, so that the arteries 
and veins may both be filled by one injection into an artery near the heart. The 
following solution if injected warm will pass the capillaries. If the gelatine solution 
is first injected and then followed by a starch mass of a different color, the veins will 
ultimately contain the former and the arteries the latter, as the starch will not 
pass the capillaries, and thus both may be easily studied because of the contrast 
in color. 

Gelatine solution (1 part gelatine to 6 or 8 of water) 1 volume. 

Glycerine carmine H volume. 

Chloral hydrate (concentrated solution) 

2 per cent., by weight, of the entire mass. 

The gelatine should be soaked in cold water and then slightly heated until ' 
dissolved. The glycerine carmine may be prepared as follows: thoroughly pul- 
verize and mix 3 grams of carmine with a little water, with enough ammonia added 
to dissolve the carmine. Add 50 grams of glycerine. Mix and filter. Add 
gradually to this mixture enough acidulated glycerine (glycerine and acetic acid 
in the ratio of 10 to 1) to give a slight acid reaction to the carmine glycerine mass. 

5. Materials for Study. — The types of animals needed for this course, with the 
exception of the marine representatives, may be secured in almost any locality, 
if sought at the proper time. The teacher should become entirely familiar with the 
common animals to be found within a reasonable distance from his school. It 
is especially necessary to know the life most abundant in the various ponds, lakes 
and streams. A close watch should be kept on the material gathered from each 
place, and a record kept of the various localities in which each useful type has 



538 ZOOLOGY 

been found and of the best time for collection. In time the laboratory will come 
to have an interesting set of facts, valuable not merely in assisting in the flindng of 
needed material, but as indicating local distribution (see also § 522; IV, 4). The 
students should be encouraged to make excursions, both with and without the 
teacher, to collect material and extend the knowledge of the locality. 

If for any reason living materials cannot be secured in the locality of the 
school, preserved specimens of marine, fresh-water, and terrestrial species may be 
secured of dealers. 

Supply department, Marine Biological Laboratory, Wood's Holl, Mass. (Pre- 
served materials.) 

The Anglers' Co., 913 W. Randolph St., Chicago, 111. (Slides and laboratory 
materials.) 

Mr. A. A. Sphung, North Judson, Indiana. Frogs, turtles, clams, and crayfish 
(living). 

Ward's Natural Science Establishment, Rochester, N. Y. (Slides and demon- 
stration preparations.) 

Southern Biological Supply Co., Natural History Building, New Orleans, La. 
(Alligators, giant bull-frogs, and southern specialties.) 

Powers and Powers, Station A, Lincoln, Nebr. (Living amoeba, fresh-water 
hydra; slides.) 

General Biological Supply House, 1177 E. 55th St., Chicago, 111. (Western 
Representatives of Woods Hole Biological Laboratory.) 

Michigan Biological Supply Co., Nickels Arcade, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Slides; 
cultures of protozoa.) 

Saint Louis Biological Laboratory, St. Louis, Mo. (Microscopic and lantern 
slides.) 

Most of these dealers issue price lists which may be had on application. 

Unless the instructor has the time and equipment to make satisfactory per- 
manent mounts of microscopic preparations, he should secure a few, illustrative of 
cell structures, cell division, cleavage of ova; also sections of hydra, of the earth- 
worm, and preparations of some of the more important tissues of higher animals, as 
bone, nerve cells and fibres, epithelial tissue, glandular tissue and the like. Some 
of these may be purchased of the dealers in microscopical supplies. They may 
usually be secured at reasonable rates by writing to the biological departments of 
the large universities. Such preparations lend a great deal of interest as demon- 
strations in connection with the laboratory work. 

6. Laboratory Records. — For making these the student should have a note- 
book of unruled drawing paper of good quality, which may be had in a tablet or 
kept as separate sheets in an appropriate envelope; and good drawing pencils, kept 
sharp, and of hardness suited to the paper. In the note-book the student should 
keep, concisely and in an orderly way, the record of all his observations, experi- 
ments, comparisons and conclusions. The notes may be kept on detached sheets 
similar to those used for the drawings, if desired. 

Outline drawings and diagrams must be made of every structure or relation 
which can be shown by a well-labeled sketch. Shading should be sparingly used 
and only with a matured purpose, the result first being tested on a separate 
sheet of paper. The name of each portion of the sketch should be determined and 
named by running a leader from the part to an appropriate place for the name. 
The drawings are always to be made in the laboratory and from the specimen studied. 



LABORATORY SUGGESTIONS 539 

It is through the judicious criticism of the drawings that the teacher can best 
bring out the deficiencies in the student's observations. One teacher cannot do 
justice to a laboratory section of more than twelve or fifteen students. A good 
portion of the failure accredited in some quarters to the laboratory method is 
due to inefficient direction. The laboratory will no more run itself than will the 
class room. 

The drawings, however, are by no means the most important part of the 
student's notes. It is more difficult and more valuable for a student to record his 
observations and conclusions in good, concise, exact English sentences than in 
drawings. 

It is very desirable that students keep a field note-book, of size suitable for the 
pocket, in which all his own outdoor observations should be entered and dated. 
These notes may be put into fuller fiorm in the reports called for in the body of the 
text. It is chiefly through the encouragement of such work as this that the teacher 
may hope to develop in his students a permanent interest in natural history, 
which will contribute materially to their satisfaction in later life. It is thus that 
men and women come to devote their lives to nature study. 

7. Library Helps. — The library is quite as necessary to a balanced course of 
zoology as the textbook, the teacher, or the laboratory. First under this head 
may be considered charts. The teacher should become as expert as possible in 
making diagrams on the board before the eyes of the pupils. These may be sup- 
plemented by charts made by the teacher, or the pupils, by enlarging figures found 
in the textbooks. Such diagrams have a distinct advantage over the originals 
in that they may be discussed while in view of the whole class. It is excellent 
practice for the pupils to make copies of tables and figures for class use. For 
this purpose a good quality of light-colored wrapping paper will serve, if better 
drawing paper cannot be had. Keuffel and Esser (New York and Chicago) will 
send samples of drawing paper on application. The outlines should be made in 
water-colors with a suitable brush, in lines heavy enough to be clearly visible 
across the room. Colors may be put on with crayon and fixed by a spray of 
shellac. 

Photographs and lantern slides are of value in illustrating the structure, 
development, and habits of animals. If the school can command a lantern or a 
heliopticon, a collection of lantern slides, selected in accordance with the special 
interests of the teacher and pupils, becomes a great stimulus in natural history work 
If a large collection of books is impossible the brief lists below will assist the teacher 
in selecting the most helpful reference books for an elementary course. More 
extended bibliographical lists will be found in many of the books cited. A very 
good working collection of books may be secured for about $150 to $200. 

In every written report demanding library work it is desirable to have the 
student record in his paper a list of all the references bearing on the subject. It 
is customary to arrange the authorities alphabetically, together with such other 
facts as are needed for ready reference. The following illustration will serve to 
indicate what facts should be recorded: 
Parker and Haswell. 

'21. A Textbook of Zoology. Vol. 1, pp. 580-583, illustrations. 

In addition to the books listed below the teacher should endeavor to secure, 
through his representative in congress, the publications of the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture: the Yearbook, the Farmers' Bulletins, the bulletins of the Bureau 



540 ZOOLOGY 

of Animal Industry and of the Division of Entomology. The Reports and Bulletin 
of the U. S. Fish Commission contain much valuable material. The publications 
of the state surveys and of the experiment stations of the various states are often 
of very high value to the teacher and are usually distributed gratuitously. 

It will be helpful to make as large a collection as possible of the current ele- 
mentary texts of zoology, and adopt the best suggestions of each. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I. General: Anatomy, Embryology, Physiology, Ecology, Habits, Etc. 

i. Thompson, J. A. Outlines of Zoology. Fifth edition. 1913. D. Appleton 
and Co., New York. 

2. Parker and Haswell. Textbook of Zoology. 2 vols. 192 1. The Mac- 

millan Co., New York. 

3. Shull, A. F., LaRue, Geo. R. and Ruthven, A. G. Principles of Animal 

Biology. First Edition, 4th Impression. 1920. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 
Inc., New York. 

4. Newman, H. H. Vertebrate Zoology. 1920. Macmillan Co., New York. 

5. Kingsley, J. S. Outlines of Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates. Second 

Edition Revised. 19 17. P. Blakiston's Son and Co., Philadelphia. 

6. Hertwig, R. General Principles of Zoology. Translated by Field, 1896. 

Henry Holt and Co., New York. 

7. Hegner, R. W. College Zoology. 1912. The Macmillan Co., N. Y. 

8. Jordan, D. S. Animal Life. 1900. D. Appleton and Co., New York. 

9. Verworn, M. General Physiology; An Outline of the Science of Life. Trans- 

lation, 1899. The Macmillan Co., New York. 
10. Bayliss, W. M. Principles of General Physiology. 19 15. Longmans, 
Green and Co., New York. 

II. Howell, W. H. A Text-book of Physiology. Seventh Edition. 191 9. 

W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia. 
12. Abbott, J. F. General Biology. 1914. The Macmillan Co., N. Y. 
r3. Wilson, E. B. The Cell in Development and Inheritance. Second Edition. 

1900. The Macmillan Co., New York. 

14. Wallace, A. R. Geographical Distribution of Animals. 2 vols. 1879. 

Harpers, New York. 

15. Ward, H. B. and Whipple, Geo. C. Fresh Water Biology. First Edition. 

1918. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York. 

16. Needham, J. G. The Life of Inland Waters. 1916. The Comstock Pub- 

lishing Co., Ithaca, N. Y. 

17. Shelford, Victor E. Animal Communities in Temperate America. 1913. 

Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago. 

18. Nelson, Edw. W. Wild Animals of North America. 191 8. Nat. Geog. Soc, 

Washington, D. C. 

19. Adams, Chas. C. Guide to the Study of Animal Ecology. 1913. The 

Macmillan Co., New York. 

20. Morgan, T. H. The Development of the Frog. 1897. The Macmillan 

Co., New York. 

21. Kellicott, Wm. E. A Textbook of General Embryology. 1913. Henry 

Holt and Co., New York. 



LABORATORY SUGGESTIONS 541 

22. MacBride, E. W. Textbook of Embryology. Vol. I. Invebretrata. 1914. 

Macmillan Co., N. Y. 

23. Kellicott, Wm. S. Outlines of Chordate Development. 191 3. Henry 

Holt and Co., New York. 

24. Marshall and Hurst. Practical Zoology. 1888. G. P. Putman's Sons, 

New York; Smith, Elder and Co., London. 

25. Hornaday, W. T. Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting. 1897. Chas. 

Scribner's Sons, New York. 

26. Hegner, Robert W. Practical Zoology. 1915. The Macmillan Co., N.Y. 

27. Morgan, C. L. Habit and Instinct. 1896. Edward Arnold, New York. 

28. Poulton, E. B. The Colors of Animals. (Int. Sci. Ser.) 1890. D. Appleton 

and Co., New York. 

29. Wallace, A. R. Tropical Nature. 1895. The Macmillan Co. 

30. Darwin, Chas. The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. 

2 vols. 1875. D. Appleton and Co., New York. 

31. Le Conte, J. Outline of the Comparative Physiology and Morphology of 

Animals. 1900. D. Appleton and Co., New York. 

32. Clark, C. H. Practical Methods in Microscopy. 1896. D. C. Heath and 

Co., Boston. 

33. Lee, A. B. Trie Microtomist's Vade-Mecum. Eighth Edition Edited by 

J. Bronte Gatenby. 192 1. P. Blakiston's Son and Co., Philadelphia. 

34. Agar, W. E. Cytology. 1920. Macmillan and Co., New York. 

35. Doncaster, Leonard. An Introduction to the Study of Cytology. 1920. 

Cambridge University Press, London. 

36. Beddard, F. E. A Textbook of Zoogeography. 1895. Cambridge (Eng.) 

Univ. Press. 

37. Calkins, G. N. Biology. 1914. Henry Holt and Co., New York. 

38. Van Beneden, F. Animal Parasites and Messmates. 1876. D. Appleton 

and Co., New York. 

39. Chandler, A. C. Animal Parasites and Human Disease. 19 18. John 

Wiley and Sons, New York. 

40. Parker, G. H. The Elementary Nervous System. 19 19. J. B. Lippincott 

Co., Philadelphia. 

41. Lillie, F. R. Problems of Fertilization. 1919. University of Chicago Press, 

Chicago. 

42. Loeb, J. Forced Movements, Tropisms and Animal Conduct. 1918. J. B. 

Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. 

43. Morgan, T. H. Heredity and Sex. 19 14. Columbia University Press, N. Y. 

44. Davenport, C. B. Heredity in Relation to Eugenics. Henry Holt and Co., N. Y. 

45. Locy, Wm. A. Biology and its Makers. 1908. Henry Holt and Co., N. Y. 

46. Hegner, R. W. The Germ-cell Cycle in Animals. 19 14. The Macmillan 

Co., N. Y. 

47. Jennings, H. S. Life and Death, Heredity and Evolution in Unicellular 

Organisms. 1920. Richard G. Badger, The Gorham Press, Boston. 

48. Morgan, T. H. A Critique of the Theory of Evolution. 1919. Princeton 

University Press, Princeton. 

49. Morgan, T. H. The Physical Basis of Heredity. 1919. Lippincott and Co., 

Philadelphia. 

50. Doncaster, L. The Determination of Sex. 1914. Cambridge University 

Press, London. 



542 ZOOLOGY 

51. Lull, R. S. Organic Evolution. 1917. Macmillan Co., New York. 

52. Conklin, E. G. Heredity and Environment in the Development of Man. 

19 1 5. Princeton University Press, Princeton. 

53. Babcock, E. R. and Clausen, R. E. Genetics in Relation to Agriculture. 

1918. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York. 

54. Riverside Natural History: J. S. Kingsley, Editor. 6 vols. Houghton, 

Mifflin and Co., Boston. 

II. Special: Books Treating the Structure and Classification of the 
More Important Groups of Animals 

1. Chapman, F. M. Bird Life. A Guide to the Study of Our Common Birds. 

1897. D. Appleton and Co., New York. 

2. Chapman, F. M. Hand-book of Birds of Eastern North America. 19 16. 

D. Appleton and Co., New York. Revised Ed. 

3. Jordan, David Starr. A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Vols. 1 and 2. 1905. 

Henry Holt and Co., New York. 

4. Forbes, Stephen A. and Richardson, R. E. The Fishes of Illinois. Second 

Edition. 1920. St. of Illinois Dept. of Registration and Education, Div. 
of Nat. Hist. Survey. 

5. Comstock, J. H. Manual for the Study of Insects. 1895. Comstock 

Publishing Co., Ithaca, New York. 

6. Folsom, J. W. Entomology: with special reference to its Biological and 

Economic Aspects. Second Edition. 1913. P. Blakiston's Son and Co., 
Philadelphia. 

7. Comstock, J. H, An Introduction to Entomology. Second Edition. 1920. 

The Comstock Publishing Co., Ithaca, N. Y. 

8. Fernald, H. T. Applied Entomology. First Edition. 1921. McGraw-Hill 

Book Co., New York. 

9. Pierce, W. D. Sanitary Entomology. 192 1. Richard G. Badger, The 

Gorham Press, Boston. 

10. Herms, Wm. B. Medical and Veterinary Entomology. 1915. The Macmil- 

lan Co., New York. 

11. Riley, Wm. A. and Johannsen, O. A. Handbook of Medical Entomology. 

191 5. The Comstock Publishing Co., Ithaca, N. Y. 

12. Lubbock, J. Ants, Bees and Wasps. Int. Sci. Series. 1882. D. Appleton 

and Co., New York. 

13. Emerton, J. H. Common Spiders. 1902. Ginn and Co., Boston, Mass. 

14. Herrick, F. H. Natural History of the American Lobster. 191 1. Bulletin 

United States Fish Commission, Vol. XXIX, for 1909. 

15. Calkins, Gary N. The Protozoa. 1901. The Macmillan Co., New York. 

16. Howard, L. O. Mosquitos. 1901. McClure, Phillips and Co., New 

York. 

17. Cowan, T. W. Natural History of the Honey Bee. 1890. Houston, 

London. 

18. Holland, W. J. The Butterfly Book. 1899. Doubleday and McClure Co., 

New York. 

19. Holland, W. J. The Moth Book. 1904. Doubleday and McClure Co., 

New York. 



LABORATORY SUGGESTIONS 543 

20. Comstock, J. H. The Spider Book. 19 12. Doubleday Page and Co., 

New York. 

21. Sanderson, E. D. Insect Pests of Farm, Orchard, and Garden. 1912. 

John Wiley and Son, N. Y. 

8. Collections. — While the educative value of a miscellaneous assortment of 
the curios so often brought to teachers is not great, a permanent collection of the 
typical animals of the locality may be so arranged as to be of considerable value 
for comparison. There should be added to these gradually, by purchase or other- 
wise, representatives of those classes of animals not represented in the local fauna 
in order to give the collection more of a synoptic value. Such a collection of 
types from the more important classes of animals serves an important end in giving 
the student a general idea of the animal kingdom as a whole, which is difficult to 
gain in any other way. The building up of a laboratory museum with the help of 
the 'students may be made to serve as an incentive to care and neatness on their 
part in making dissections or other preparations which may bear the name of the 
student on the labels, when permanently installed in the collection. 

It is decidedly valuable to encourage students in the special study of some 
limited group of animals, and this may frequently be accomplished by the begin- 
nings of a collection of the local species of the group. The permanent interest 
and enthusiasm on the part of the pupil in the study of the phenomena of living 
things may be taken as the measure of success in teaching the natural history 
sciences. This can be secured more readily by studying life in its natural sur- 
roundings than by dissections. 



INDEX 



[The names of the genera cited are printed in italics. The numerals refer to pages. 
Those in bold-faced type indicate that the object is illustrated on that page]. 



Absorption, 67 

Abyssal fauna, 137 

Acalephs, 246 

Acanthocephala, 204 

Acclimatization, 13, 107 

Achromatin, 21, 27 

Acquired characters, 101, 104 

Actinozoa, 186 

Adaptation, means of, 107; types of, 
113; to inorganic environment, 114; 
to mates, 116; to offspring, 117; 
social, 122; competitive, 123; com- 
mensal, 124; symbiotic, 124; to prey- 
ing, 127; for protection, 127 

Adaptive habits and instincts, 134 

Adipose tissue, 56 

Adrenals, 342 

Aepyornis, 413 

Aerial fauna, 138 

Age of man, 475 

Air-sacs (birds), 405 

Aix, 413 

Albatross, 415 

Alimentary canal (see digestive sys- 
tem). 

Allantois, 392, 409 

Alligator, 397 

Alternation of generation — in Ccelen- 
terates, 179; in worms, 192, 197 

Ambulacral system, 214 

Amitotic cell division, 24 

Ammonites, 263 

Amnion, 392, 409 

Amoeba, 15, 23, 93, 150 

Amphibians, 146, 376 

Amphioxus, 313, 314 

Amphitrite, 237 

Amphiuma, 381 

Ampullae, 215 

Anabolism, 67 



Anacanthini, 374 

Analogy, 85 

Anaphase, 25 

Anatomy, 3, 521 

Animalcules (see protozoa). 

Animal industries, 508 

Annelida, 148, 223, 237 

Anodonta, 239, 259 

Anseres, 416 

Ant-eater, 452 

Antenna, 268 

Antennule, 270 

Antero-posterior (see symmetry). 

Antimeres, 97 

Ants, 123, 307 

Aorta, 339 (see circulatory system). 

Apes, 460 

Aphis (plant lice), 300 

Apoda, 384 

Appendages — arrangement of, 97; in 

arthropods, 277; in vertebrates, 325; 

in fishes, 360; in amphibians, 377; 

in birds, 402 
Appendicular skeleton, 331, 333 
Appendix, 446 
Applications of zoology, 508 
Aptera, 298 
Apteryx, 407, 411 
Aquatic fauna, 137 
Arachnida, 307 
Araneida, 308 
Arbacia, 210 
Archoeopteryx, 410 
Archenteron, 38,-41 
Archipterygium, 361 
Argonauta, 264 
Aristotle's lantern, 211 
Armadillo, 452 
Army-worm, 405 
Arterial arches, 339 



545 



546 



INDEX 



Arteries, 72 (see circulatory system). 

Arthropoda, 147, 266 

Artificial selection, 106 

Artiodactyla, 454 

Ascaris, 200 

Ascidians, 313 

Asellus, 270 

Ass, 455 ^ 

Assimilation, 13 (see metabolism). 

Asterias, 208 

Asteroidea, 221 

Astragalinus, 427 

Astroid-stage, 24 (cell-division). 

Asymmetry, 93, 372 

Atrial pore, 314 

Atrium, 314 

Auditory nerve, 353 

Auditory organs, 82, 282J355 

Auk, 414 

Aurelia, 186 

Autolytus, 230, 231 

Automatism, 12 

Aves, 399, 411 

Axiality, 92, 94 

Axial skeleton, 329 

Axon, 62 

Baboons, 460 
Balanoglossus, 312, 313 
Barbs (see feather). 
Barbules (see feather). 
Barnacles, 293 
Bass (sea), 372 
Bats, 458 
Bears, 455 
Beaver, 458 
Bees, 123, 307 
Beetles, 305 

Behavior (see sense-organs, and sen- 
sation). 
Bibliography, 540 
Bilateral symmetry, 96,^98 
Binomial nomenclature, £5 20 
Biogenetic law, 490 
Bird lice, 300 
Birds, 144 
Bittern, 416 

Bivalent chromosomes, 33, 34, 36 
Bivium, 213 
Blastoidea, 220 



Blastomeres, 37 

Blastopore, 38, 40 

Blastula, 38, 40 

Blood, 58 

Boat-shell, 261 

Body-cavity (see ccelom). 

Bojanus, organ of (= kidney of clam). 

Bonasa, 418 

Bone, 57 

Bony-fishes, 373 

Book-lungs, 282 

Bot-fly, 301 

Brachiopoda, 204 

Brain: orang, 468; Hottentot, 469; 
Gauss, 469 

Brain (vertebrate), 348, 349 

Branchiae, 70 

Branchial arches, 340-342 (see circula- 
tory system). 

Bronchi, 447 

Branchiostoma, 313, 314 

Brook trout, 369 

Bryozoa (see polyzoa, 203). 

Buccal cavity, 334 

Bugs, 300 

Bubo, 421, 422 

Bufo, 382 

Butorides, 415 

Butterflies, 303 

Cabbage butterfly, 304 

Cabbage worm, 304 

Caecum, 446 

Cambarus, 266 

Camel, 454 

Camera eye, 83, 358 

Campanularia, 186 

Campodea, 299 

Canine teeth, 444 

Canker-worm, 305 

Capillaries, 72, 340 

Caprella, 297 

Carapace — in Crustacea, 283 ; turtles, 393 

Carbohydrates, 11 

Cardinal veins, 365 (see circulatory 

system) . 
Cardium, 259 
Carinatae,4i3 
Carnivora, 451, 455 
Carpels, 333 



INDEX 



547 



Cartilage, 55, 56 

Cat, 455 

Caudal vertebras, 331 

Caudata, 484 

Cell, 19 

. form, 19; size, 20; structure, 20; 
wall, 21; functions, 22; reproduction 
23; division, 23 

Centipede, 297 

Central nervous system, 78, 348 

Centropristis, 372 

Centrosome (centrosphere) , 26 

Centrum (see vertebra), 329 

Cephalopoda, 263 

Cephalo-thorax, 279 

Ceratodus, 375 

Cercaria, 197 

Cerebellum, 348, 351 

Cerebrum, 349, 351 

Cervical vertebrae, 330 

Ceryle, 424 

Cestodes, 199 

Cetacea, 453 

Chaetognatha, 204, 239 

Chastopoda, 237 

Chameleon, 394 

Cheiroptera, 451, 458 

Chelonia, 393 

Chemical sense, 81, 354 (see taste and 
smell). 

Chicken, 417; breeds of, 435 

Chimney-swifts, 430 

Chlamydomyxa, 22 

Chondrostei, 373 

Chordata, 312 (see vertebrata). 

Chorion, 409, 449 

Chromatin, 21, 27 

Chromosomes, 24 

Cicada, 300 

Cilia, 22, 50, 149 

Circulation, 67, 71 

Circulatory organs, 71; in Echino- 
derms, 216; in annulata, 231; in 
mollusks, 251; in arthropods, 284; 
in vertebrates, 338, 344; in fishes, 
365, 366; in amphibia, 341, 379; in 
reptiles, 341, 389; in birds, 342; in 
mammals, 342, 446 

Cirphis, 305 

Cirratulus, 238 



Cirripedia, 294 

Clam, 240, 257 

Clamatores, 430 

Classification, 486 

Classification — defined, 5; use, 109; 
illustration of, 1 1 1 

Classification — protozoa, 162; porifera, 
172; ccelenterata, 185; unsegmented 
worms, 196; annulata, 237; mollusca, 
258; arthropoda, 293; vertebrata, 
358; fishes, 373; amphibia, 384; 
reptiles 393; birds, 411; mammals, 
450 

Cleavage, 36, 37, 38 

Clitellum, 224 

Cloaca, 168, 337, 407 

Clothes-moth, 305 

Clothing from animals, 509 

Clypeus, 273 

Coccyzus, 425 

Cockroaches, 298 

Cocoon, 289 

Ccelenterata, 148, 174 

Ccelom (defined), 41; in unsegmented 
worms, 192; echinoderms, 214; an- 
nulata, 230; arthropods, 278; verte- 
brates, 334 

Ccelomata and ccelenterata, 148 

Coil stage (cell-division), 24, 25 

Coleoptera, 305 

Colloid, 12 

Colonies — organic, 120; voluntary, 122 

Color, 127, 371 

Colpoda, 20 

Columbae, 424 

Commensalism, 124 

Compound eye, 84, 286 

Condyle, 388, 401 

Conjugation, 75, 15 

Congo-snake, 384, 385 

Connective tissue, 54-59 

Contractility, 15 (see motion). 

Contributors to zoology, 509 

Convolutions (brain), 447, 469 

Coordination, 77 

Corallines, 203 

Corallum, 183 

Corals, 186 

Corpuscles (blood), 58 

Corrodentia, 299 



548 



INDEX 



Cortex (of brain), 447 
Corvidse, 431 
Cotton-boll worm, 305 
Coverts (see feather). 
Coxa, 273 

Crab, 290 ; larva?, 288, 289 
Crane, 418 
Cranial nerves, 353 
Crayfish, 266, 294 
Crepidula, 261 
Crickets, 298 
Crinoidea, 220 
Crocodiles, 397 
Crop, 335 
Crossopterygii, 373 
Cro talus, 388 
Crows, 426 
Crustacea, 293 
Ctenophora, 186 
Cuckoo, 425 
Cursor es, 412 
Cyclas, 259 
Cyclops, 270, 293 
Cyclostomes, 314 
Cyst, 159 
Cystoidea, 220 
Cytology, 522 
Cytoplasm, 20, 27 

Damsel flies, 299 

Daphnia, 293 

Decapoda, 264 

Deer, 454 

Degeneration, 132 

Dendron, 62 

Dental formula, 444 

Dentine, 51, 444 (teeth). 

Dermaptera, 300 

Dermis, 327 (see integument). 

Dermo- muscular sac, 229 

Dero, 225, 227 

Derotremata, 384 

Development (see metamorphosis) — 
porifera, 171; ccelenterata, 184; un- 
segmented worms, 192, 197; echino- 
derms, 219; annulata, 234; mollusks, 
254; arthropods, 287; vertebrates, 
346, 347; fishes, 370; amphibians, 
380; reptiles, 391; birds, 408; mam- 
mals, 448 



Development of zoology, 518 

Devil-fish, 263 

Diastroid stage, 24, 25 

Dibranchiata, 263 

Didelphia, 451 

Didelphys, 117 

Differentiation of tissues and organs, 
29, 41, 48, 85 

Digestion, 67, 68 

Digestive system — protozoa, 155; 
sponges, 170; ccelenterata, 181; echi- 
noderms, 213; annulata, 230; mol- 
lusks, 249, arthoropoda, 281; verte- 
brates, 332, 392; birds, 405; mam- 
mals, 444; ruminants, 445 

Digestive tract, regions, 334 

Dimorphism (sexual), 76 

Dinosaurs, 386, 487 

Diphyllobothrium, 205, 206 

Dipnoi, 374 

Dipodomys, 456 

Diptera, 301 

Direct cell-division, 23 

Discophora, 239 (leeches). 

Dispersal of animals, 136 

Dissimilation, 16 (katabolism). 

Distribution, geographical, 4, 138 

Division (cell), 23, 25 

Division of labor, 29, 66 

Dogs, 455 

Domestication of animals, 106, 514 

Dominance, 500 

Dorsal vertebrae, 330 

Dorso-ventral axis (see symmetry). 

Dove, 424 

Draco, 395 

Dragon flies, 299 

Duck-bill, 440 

Ducks, 413 

Ductless glands, 341 

Ductus Cuvieri, 365 

Dugong, 453 

Eagle, 420 

Ear, 355 (see auditory organs). 

Earthworm.,^223 

Earwigs, 300 

Echidna, 450 

Echinodermata, 147, 208 

Echinoidea, 221 



INDEX 



549 



Echinus, 210 

Ecology — defined, 4 (see also adapta- 
tion); of protozoa, 162; porifera, 172; 
ccelenterata, 186; unsegmented 
worms, 204; echinoderms, 220; an- 
nulata, 235; mollusks, 255; arthro- 
pods, 290; fishes, 367, 371; amphibia, 
380; reptiles, 392; birds, 423; mam- 
mals, 460 

Economic zoology, 508 

Ectoderm, 38, 40 

Ectosarc, 153 

Edentata, 451, 452 

Education, 473 

Egg, 30 

Elasmobranchii, 373 

Electric organs, 371 * 

Elephant, 455 

Elytra, 305 

Embryology, 488 

Embryology, defined, 4 (see develop- 
ment), history of, 523 

Emu, 412 

Enamel, 51 (see teeth), 443 

Endopodite, 268 

Endosarc, 153 

Endoskeleton, 73, 328, 404 (see also 
skeleton) . 

Endothelium, 53 

Ensis, 258 

Entoderm, 38, 40 

Entomostraca, 293 

Environment, 100, 103, 114, 505 

Epeira, 309 

Ephemerida, 299 

Epiblast (see ectoderm). 

Epicranium, 273 

Epidermis (see integument), 326 

Epinephelus, 374 

Epithelial tissue, 49-53 

Equilibrium sense, 82, 355 

Erethizon, 457 

Ethnography, 475 

Eugenics, 519 

Euglena, 154, 158 

Eutheria, 440 

Euthyneura, 261 

Eustachian tube, 355 

Evolution, — meaning, 482 ; evidences, 
483; course of, 491; factors in, 492 



Excretion, 17, 67, 72 

Excretory systems — ccelenterates, 183; 
unsegmented worms, 194, 195; 
echinoderms, 217; annulata, 232; 
mollusks, 252; arthropods, 284; ver- 
tebrates, 345 

Exopodite, 268 

Exoskeleton, 73, 325 (see also integ- 
ument). 

Eyes, 83, 286, 356 ; median, 390 

Eye-spots, ccelenterata, 184; annelida, 
233 

Facial nerve, 353 

False amnion, 410 

Fasciola (Distomum), 196, 197 

Fat cells, 56 

Fats, 11 

Faunas, type of, 137 

Feathers, 400, 403 

Femur, 333 

Ferments, 10 

Fertilization, 36, 42, 75 

Fibrillar (muscle), 60 

Fibrous connective tissue, 55, 56 

Fin, 361 

Finches, 421 

Fishes, 146, 316, 359 

Fish Commission, work of, 369 

Fission, 192, 195 

Flame-cell, 193, 195 

Flamingo, 416 

Flat-worms (see platyhelminthes, 193). 

Fleas, 301 

Flies, 301 

Fcetal membranes (see amnion and 

allantois). 
Fluctuations, 104, 495 
Food value of animals, 508 
Foraminifera, 162 
Formative pole, 37 
Fox, 455-458 
Fringillidae, 431 
Frog, 319, 382 
Frontal section, 92 
Fruit-borers, 305 
Functions (basal), 66 
Fur (see hair). 

Galea, 274 
Gallinae, 422 



55o 



INDEX 



Galls, 117, 118 

Gallus, 424 

Gamete, 159 

Gammarus, 296 

Ganglion, 62, 348 

Gar-pike, 373 

Gasteropoda, 261 

Gastrophilus, 301, 302 

Gastro- vascular cavity, 178, 181 

Gastrula, 38, 39 

Gavials, 397 

Geese, 416 

Gelatinous tissue, 55 

Genae. 273 

Genus, in 

Germinal layers, 40 

Germinative epithelium, 345 

General characters — protozoa, 153; 
porifera, 166; ccelenterata, 177; un- 
segmented worms, 191; echino- 
derms, 211; annulata, 276; mollusks, 
245, arthropods, 278; chordata, 311; 
vertebrates, 324; fishes, 359; am- 
phibia, 376; reptiles, 386; birds, 401; 
mammals, 439. 

General survey — protozoa, 152; por- 
ifera, 166, 168; ccelenterata, 179; 
echinoderms, 212; unsegmented 
worms, 191; annulata, 226; mollusks, 
244; arthropods, 277; vertebrates, 
ch. XIX; fishes, 360; amphibia, 376; 
reptiles, 386; birds, 402; mammals, 
440 

Geographical distribution, 484 

Gephyrea, 204 

Germ cell cycle, 33, 34, 42 

Germ plasm, 496 

Gila-monster, 394 

Gill-arches, 337 

Gills, 70, 337 

Girdles, 331, 333 

Gizzard, 281, 336, 405 

Glands, 51, 53 ; in mammalia, 442 

Glass-snake, 394 

Glosso-pharyngeal nerve, 353 

Glottis, 338 

Gnats, 301 

Goblet cells, 50 

Goldfinch, 427 

Gonads, 184 (see ovary and testis). 



Grallatores, 412 
Grantia, 165 
Grasshopper, 271, 298 
Green gland, 284 
Grouse, 418, 422 
Growth, 14, 74 
Guinea-fowl, 417 
Gulls, 414, 415 
Gymnophiona, 384 

Habits and habitats (see ecology), 134, 

460 
Haemocele, 280 
Haemoglobin, 338 
Hair, 441, 442 
Hair-follicle, 327 
Hares, 458 

Harmful animals, 513 
Harvest-men 310 
Hawks, 420 
Haversian canal, 57 
Hearing, 82 (see ear). 
Heart, 339 (see circulatory system). 
Hedge-hog, 447 
Helix, 247, 262 
Heloderma, 395 ** 

Helodrihis, 223 
Hemiptera, 300 
Hepatic portal circulation, 365 
Heredity, 100, 496; carriers of, 102 
Hermaphroditism, 75, 233 
Hermaphrodite organs — tapeworm, 

199; snail, 253 
Hermit crab, 125, 187 
Heron, 415 
Hessian fly, 302 
Heterocercal tail, 362 
Heteromya, 260 
Hexapoda, 298 
Hippopotamus, 443 
Historical — general, 6; protozoa, 160; 

of zoology, 518 
Histology — defined, 4 
Hog, 454 
Holostei, 373 
Holothuroidea, 221 
Homarus, 294 
Homocercal tail, 363 
Homology, 85 
Hookworm, 201 



INDEX 



551 



Horned-toad, 394 
Hornbill, 429 
Horse, 454 

Human evolution, 476, 506 
Humming-bird, 430 
Hybrid, in 
Hydra, 174, 178 
Hydractina, 187 
Hydroid type, 1 79 
Hydrozoa, 186 
Hylocichla, 428 
Hymenoptera, 306 
Hypoblast (see entoderm). 

Ichneumon fly, 307 

Icteridas, 431 

Imago, 289 

Incisor teeth, 443 

Individual, 100 

Infusoria, 162 

Ingestion of food, 67 

Injurious animals, 513 

Insectivora, 452 

Insects, 298 ** 

Instincts, 134, 470 

Integument (see skin) — annulata, 229; 

echinoderms, 213; mollusks, 243, 247; 

arthropods, 280; vertebrates, 326; 

fish, 363; amphibians, 377; reptiles, 

387; birds, 402; mammals, 442 
Intercellular substance, 49 
Intestine, 336 (see digestive system). 
Invagination, 39 

Irritability, 12, 77 (see sensation). 
Isolation, 495 
Isoptera, 299 

Jackals, 455 

Jelly-fish, 179 (see medusa). 

Jugular vein, 365 

Katabolism, 16, 67 

Katydid, 298, 300 

Keeled birds, 413 

Kidney, 72, 345 (see nephridia). 

King crab, 307 

Kingfisher, 424 

Labor-saving animals, 510 



Laboratory exercises — protozoa, 1 50 ; 
porifera, 165; ccelenterata, 174; un- 
segmented worms, 192; echinoderms, 
208; annulata, 223; mollusks, 240; 
arthropods, 266; chordata, 316; fish, 
316; amphibian, 319; reptile, 385; 
birds, 399; mammals, 438 

Labium, 274 

Labrum, 273 

Lacertilia, 393 

Lacinia, 274 

Lacteals, 447 

Lacunae — bone, 57; blood, 284 

Ladybird (ladybug) beetle, 305 

Lamella (bone), 57 

Lamellibranchiata, 258 

Lamprey, 127, 312 

Lampropeltis, 396 

Lancelet, 313, 314 

Lanius, 430 

Lark, 429 

Larynx, 338 

Leech, 226-239 

Leopard, 455 

Lemurs, 460 

Lepidoptera, 303 

Lepidosiren, 375 

Lepornis, 393 

Lice, 300 

Life cycle, 42 

Life — nature of, 8; relation to pro- 
toplasm, 19 

Limax, 262 

Limbs, bones of, 333 

Limicolse, 418 

Limncea (host of liver fluke, 196), 243 

Limpet, 261 

Limulus, 307 

Lion, 455 

Littoral fauna, 137 

Littorina, 261 

Liver-fluke, 196, 197 

Lizards, 394 

Lobster, 294, 295 

Locomotion, 76 

Locomotor organ — protozoa, 155; 
porifera, 170; ccelenterata, 183; echi- 
noderms, 214; annulata, 229; mol- 
lusks, 248; arthropods, 281; fishes, 
360-364, amphibia, 379; reptiles, 
387; birds, 402; mammals, 431 



552 



INDEX 



Locust-borers, 305 
Locusts, 298 
Longipennes, 415 
Lophobranchii, 376 
Lophophore, 203 
Lumbar vertebrae, 328 
Lumbricus, 223 
Lung-fishes, 374 
Lungs, 70, 336 
Lymph, 59 
Lymphatics, 446 

Macromere, 234, 255 

Madreporic body, 215 

Malacostraca, 294 

Malaria, 1^63 

Mallophaga, 300 

Malpighian tubule, 282 

Mammals, 144 

Mammary glands, 442 

Mammoth, 455 

Man, 460, ch. XXV 

Man, 466; differences from animals, 
466-470; mental life, 470; social 
instincts, 472; education of, 473; 
relation to nature, 474 ; age on earth, 
475; types of, 475; future of, 476 

Manatee, 453 

Mandible, 264, 274 

Mantle, 248 

Marsupials, 441, 440, 451 

Marsupium, 440, 449 

Marten, 455 

Mastodon, 455 

Maturation (of ovum), 32, 33, 34 

Maxilla, 268, 274 

Maxillary palpus, 274 

Maxillipeds, 268 

May-flies, 299 

Meantes, 484 

Medical uses of animals, 511 

Medulla oblongata, 349, 351 

Medullary sheath (nerve), 61, 62 

Medusa-type, 179 

Megalops, 289 

Mendel's experiments, 497 

Mendel's laws, 499 
Mental life of man, 470 
Mesenchyma (mesoglcea), 167 
Mesenteron, 68, 332 



Mesentery, 321 

Mesoblast (see mesoderm), 234 • 

Mesoderm, 40, 41 

Mesothorax, 273 

Mesozoa, 204 

Metabolism, 67 

Metamere, 97 

Metamorphosis — worms, 196, 197; 
echinoderms, 219; arthropods, 288 
amphibia, 380, 381 

Metaphase, 24 

Metapleure, 314 

Metathorax, 273 

Metazoa, 149-486 

Metridium, 176 

Mice, 458 

Micromeres, 234, 255 

Micropyle, 36 

Microstomum, 195 

Migration, 107, 136; of birds, 433 * 

Millipedes, 297 

Mimicry, 130, 391 

Mimus, 428 

Mink, 455 

Mites, 310 

Mitotic cell-division, 24, 25 

Mniotiltidas, 431 

Mocking bird, 428 

Modern birds, 411 

Molar teeth, 444 

Moles, 452 

Mollusca, 240 

Molluscoidea, 203 

Monkeys, 460 

Monodelphia, 451 

Monomya, 260 

Monotremata, 440, 450 

Morphology — defined, 3 

Morula, 38, 39 

Mosquitoes, 302, 303 

Moths, 303 

Motion, 76 (see locomotion); proto- 
plasmic, 15 

Moulting, 280 

Mouth-parts (arthropods), 266, 274 

Mucous epithelium, 50 

Muscular system, 76; ccelenterates, 183; 
echinoderms, 217; annulates, 229; 
mollusks, 248; arthropods, 281 ; verte- 
brates, 346 



INDEX 



553 



Muscular tissue, 59-61 
Mussel, 253, 255, 240, 258 
Mutabilia, 384 
Mutation, 104, 108, 489 
Mya, 240, 257 
Myctodera, 384 
Myotome, 314, 346 
Myriapoda, 297 
Mytilus, 259 

Nats, 239 

Natural history, 520 

Natural selection, 105 

Nauplius, 294 

Nautilus — pearly, 262; paper, 264 

Necator, 201 

Necturus, 381, 384 

Nemathelminthes, 200 

Nemertinea, 204 

Neornithes, 411 

Nephridia, 72, 73, 232, 345 

Nereis, 226, 237 

Nervous system, 77-84 (see sense or- 
gans); ccelenterata, 183; echinoderms, 
218; annulata, 232; mollusks, 252; 
arthropods, 284; vertebrates, 348; 
reptiles, 389; birds, 406; mammals, 

447 

Nervous tissue, 61, 62 

Nettling cells, 182 

Neuron, 62 

Neuroptera, 299 

Newts, 384 

Nictitating membrane, 356; in birds. 
406 

Notochord, 312, 329 

Nucleoplasm, 27 

Nucleolus, 21 

Nucleus, 21; functions of, 26 

Nutrition, 67; protozoa, 155; see di- 
gestion, metabolism, etc. 

Nutritive pole, 37 

Obelia, 186 
Ocelli, 286 
Occulina, 177 
Octopoda, 260 
Octopus, 263, 264 
Odonata, 299 
Odontophore, 245, 249 



(Esophagus, 335 

Oil glands, 327 

Olfactory nerves, 353 

Oligochaeta, 238 

Ommatidium, 286 

Oniscus, 270 

Onychophora, 297 

Oocytes, 32, 33, 34 

Oogonia, 32, 33, 34 

Ophidia, 394 

Ophiuroidea, 221 

Optic nerve, 353, 356 

Orb-weavers, 308 

Organization, 19, 48, 66; of protozoa, 154 

Organs, 67 

Origin of tissues, 48 

Original home of animals, 137 

Orioles, 421 

Ornithodelphia, 450 

Ornithorhynchus, 450 

Orthoceratites, 263 

Orthoptera, 298 

Oscines, 430 

Osculum, 166 

Osmerus, 371 

Osseous tissue (bone), 57 

Ostrea, 260 

Ostrich, 412 

Otocyst, 82 (see also auditory organs). 

Otolith, 82 

Otter, 455 

Ovary, 75, 287, 345 

Oviduct, 253, 287, 345, 407 

Ovipositor, 273 

Oviparous, 346 

Ovum, 30 

Owls, 420, 421, 422 

Ox, 454 

Oxidation, 17, 69 

Oysters, 243, 257, 260 

Palcemonetes, 296 
Palaeontology, 480 
Palaeozoology, denned, 5 
Paludicolas, 418 
Papilio, 306 
Paramecium, 150, 154 
Parapodia, 237 

Parasitic worms, — cycle of, 207 
Parasitism, 130, 196, 204, 206 



554 



INDEX 



Parental care, 117, 461 

Parthenogenesis, 117 

Passeres, 430 

Pea-fowl, 422 

Pearl oyster, 260 

Pearls, 258 

Pecten, 260 

Pelagic fauna, 137 

Pelecanus, 417 

Pelecypoda, 258 

Penguin, 414 

Pennaria, 1 86 

Perennibranchiata, 384 

Pericardial sinus, 284 

Perichondrium, 56 

Periosteum, 57 

Peripatus, 297 

Peripheral nervous system, 80, 348, 

352 (see nervous system). 
Perissodactyla, 454 
Peritoneum, 317 
Periwinkles, 261 
Petrels, 415 
Pharyngognathi, 374 
Pharynx, 334 
Pheasant, 422 
Philosophy of biology, 525 
Phcenicopterus, 416 
Pholas, 259 
Phyla, key to, 148 
Physalia, 188 

Physiology, denned, 4; history of, 523 
Physopoda, 300 
Physostomi, 373 
Phytophaga, 303 
Pici, 427 
Pieris, 304 
Pigeon, 418 
Pigments, 11 
Pituitary body, 342 
Placenta, 449 
Placentalia, 440, 451 
Planarians, 194 
Planorbis, 262 
Plant-lice, 300 
Planula, 185 
Plasma (blood), 58, 339 
Plastron, 393 
Platyhelminthes, 193 
Plecoptera, 299 



Plectognathi, 374 

Pleura, 338 

Pleuron, 267 

Plexus, 353 

Plover, 418, 434 

Plumatella, 193, 203 

Polar bodies, 33, 34, 35 

Polychaeta, 237 

Polygordius, 235 

Polymorphism, 120, 189, 190 

Polyp, 176-179 

Polyzoa, 203 

Porcupine, 457 

Porifera, 148, 165 

Porpoises, 453 

Potato-beetle, 305 

Prairie dog, 458 

Premolar (teeth), 444 

Primary vesicles (brain), 348 

Primates, 452, 459 

Primordial germ cells, 32, 33, 34 

Proboscidea, 455 

Procotodceum, 68, 281 

Proglottis (segment), 199, 200 

Promorphology — denned, 3, 92; illus- 
trated, 92 

Prophase, 24 

Prostomium, 230 

Protective resemblance, 127 

Proteids, 11 

Prothorax, 273 

Protoplasm, 10; chemical composition 
of, 1 1 ; physical structure, 1 1 ; physi- 
ology, 12, 66; relation to life, 9 

Protopodite, 268 

Protopterus, 375 

Prototheria, 440 

Proto-vertebrata, 312 

Protozoa, 149, 150 

Proventriculus, 281, 405 

Pseudopodia, 155 

Psychology, 471 

Ptarmigan, 419 

Pterophylla, 300 

Pteropus, 458 

Pulp-cavity (see teeth), 443 

Pupa, 289 (see metamorphosis). 

Purity of gametes, 501 

Pygopodes, 414 

Pyloric casca, 282, 317 



INDEX 



555 



Quadrate bone, 388, 443 

Quail, 422 

Quill (see feather) . 

Rabbit, 458 

Rachis (see feather). 

Radial symmetry, 94 

Radiolaria, 162 

Radula, 248 

Rail, 418 

Rana, 382 

Raptores, 420 

Rat, 456, 462 

Ratitae, 411 

Rattle-snake, 388 

Rays, 373 

Razor-clam, 254 

Reason, 470 

Receptaculum seminis, 233, 287 

Rectrices (see feathers), 400 

Redia, 197 

Reduction divisions, 32, 33, 34 

Reference books, 540 

Regeneration, 97 

Reintegration of parts, 85 

Relationships of animals, 488-491 

Remiges (see feathers), 400 

Renal portal circulation, 365 

Reproduction, 14; of cells, 23; asexual, 
74; sexual, 75, 117 

Reproduction organs of — protozoa, 157; 
porifera, 1 70 ; ccelenterata, i84;unseg- 
mented worms, 192, 195, 197; echino- 
derms, 218; annulata, 234; mollusks, 
2 53> 2 54; arthropods, 287; vertebrates, 
345, fishes, 370; amphibia, 380; 
reptiles, 391 ; birds, 408; mammals, 448 

Reproductive epithelium, 52, 53, 54 

Reptiles, 144, 385; age of, 386 

Reptilian birds, 410 

Resemblance, general and special, 121 

Respiration, 69; internal, 337; ccelenter- 
ata, 182; annulata, 231; echinoderms, 
216; mollusks, 250; arthropods, 282 
vertebrates, 337; fishes, 337; am- 
phibians, 378; reptiles, 388; birds, 
405, mammals, 447 

Respiratory tree, 216 

Retina, 83, 84, 356, 357 

Rhamphorhynchus, 391 



Rhinoceros, 454 
Rhinoderma, 380 
Rhizopoda, 162 
Rhodostethia, 414 
Right-left axis (see symmetry). 
Rodentia, 451, 456 
Rotifers, 201, 202 
Round worms, 200 
Rudimentary organs, 487 
Rumen, 444 
Ruminant, 454 
stomach, 444 

Sacral vertebrae, 330 
Sagittal section, 92 
Salamander, 384 
Salientia, 384 
Salmo, 369 (salmon) 
Salvelimus, 369 
Sarcolemma, 60 
Sauria, 393 
Saururae, 411 
Scale insects, 300 
Scales, 363 
Scallop, 260 
Scarabeids, 305 
Sceloporus, 394 
Schwann's sheath, 63 
Sciurus, 457 
Scolopendra, 298 
Scorpionida, 308 
Scyphistoma, 186 
Scyphozoa, 186 
Sea-cow, 453 

cucumber, 221 

lilies, 220 

squirts, 313 

urchins, 221 
Seals, 455 
Secretion, 17, 70 
Sections, defined, 92 
Segment, 279 (see metamere, somite). 
Segmentation (see cleavage, metamer- 
ism). 

cavity, 38, 39 
Segmented worms (see annelida). 
Segregation of characters, 501 
of germ cells 43, 
Semi-circular canals, 355 
Seminal vesicles, 233 



556 



INDEX 



Sensation, 77; (see also sense organs). 
Sense organs — protozoa, 156; porifera, 
170; ccelenterata, 183; echinoder- 
mata, 218; annulata, 232; mollusca, 
252; arthropoda, 284; vertebrata, 
348; reptiles, 389; birds, 406; mam- 
mals, 447 
Sensory epithelium, 52, 53 
Serpentes, 394 

Sexual cells, 30 (see ovum, sperm). 
Shark, 373 
Sheep, 454 

Sheepshead (fish), 374 
Shell, 246 ; structure, 248 
Shipworm, 259 
Shrike, 430 
Shrimp, 296 

Sight, 82 (see sense organs). 
Silk worm, 305 
Siphon, 241, 256, 257 
Siphonophora, 186, 188 
Sipunculids, 204 
Sipunculoidea, 239 
Siren, 381, 384 
Sirenia, 451, 453 
Skates, 373 
Skin, 327 (see integument). 

senses, 354 
Skeletal system, 73 — in protozoa, 154; 
porifera, 169; ccelenterates, 183; 
echinoderms, 213, 217; annulates, 
229; mollusks, 245; arthropods, 280; 
vertebrates, 328; fishes, 360; am- 
phibia, 378; reptiles, 387; birds, 404; 
mammals, 443 
Skull, 363, 388, 420, 422 
Sloths, 451 
Slugs, 261 
Smell, 81, 354 
Smelt, 37.1 
Snails, 243, 247, 261 
Snakes, 394 
Snipe, 418 
Snowy grouper, 374 
Social instincts, 121, 288, 450, 472 
Sociology, 472 
Somite (see segment). 
Sow-bug, 270, 294 
Sparrows, 421 
Special senses, 81, 354 



Species, 110-112 

Spermatids, 32, 33, 34 

Spermatocytes, 32, 33, 34 

Spermatozoon, 31 

Sphincter, 336 

Spider, 307, 309 

Spinal cord, 352 
nerves, 352 

Spinous process, 329 

Spiracle, 273 

Spirostomum, 156 

Spleen, 342 

Sponges, 148, 165 (see porifera). 

Spontaneous generation, 161 

Sporocyst, 195, 196 

Sporozoa, 162 

Sports, 488 

Squamata, 393 

Squamous epithelium, 50 

Squid, 244, 263 

Starfish, 206, 212 

Statocyst, 81, 82, 285 (see otocyst). 

Statoliths, 81, 82 

Steganopodes, 416 

Stentor, 156 

Sternum, 267, 332 

Stigmata, 282 

Stimulus, 13 

Stolon, 185 

Stomach, 336, 445 

Stomodseum, 68, 281 

Stone flies, 299 

Stork, 416 

Streptoneura, 261 

Striate muscle, 61 

Strobila, 198 

Struggle for existence, 104 

Struthio, 412 

Sturgeon, 373 

Sunfish, 373 

Supplementary studies — protozoa, 164; 
porifera, 173; ccelenterata, 190; un- 
segmented worms, 206; echinoderms, 
221; annulata, 239; mollusca, 264; 
arthropods, 310; fishes, 375; reptiles, 
397; birds, 437; mammals, 464 
Supportive tissue (see connective). 
Suture, 443 

Swallow-tailed butterfly, 306 
Sweat glands, 327 



INDEX 



557 



Swifts, 419 
Swine, 454 
Symbiosis, 124 
Symmetry, 3, 92, 372 
Sympathetic system, 354 
Syrinx, 406, 432 

Tcenia, 198 

Tail, 362 

Tape- worm (see Tcenia), 199 

Tapir, 455 

Tarso-metatarsus, 405 

Tarsus, 273, 333 

Teeth, 443 

Teleostei, 373 

Telophase, 26 

Tent caterpillars, 304 

Teredo, 259 

Tergum, 267 

Termites, 299 

Terrapene, 393 

Testis, 76, 233 

Testudinata, 393 

Tetrabranchiata, 263 

Thamnophis, 396 

Thread- worms, 200 

Thrips, 300 

Thrushes, 428, 431 

Thymus, 342 

Thyroid, 342 

Thysanura, 299 

Tibia, 273 

Ticks, 310 

Tiger, 455 

Tissues — definition, 48; differentiation, 

42; classification, 49 
Toad, 382 
Tortoises, 393 
Tortoise-shell, 387 
Toucans, 429 
Touch, 81 
Trachea, 338 
Tracheae, 70, 282 
Transverse section, 92 
Tree-toads, 384 
Trematodes, 196 
Trichinella, 200 
Trichoptera, 300 
Trivium, 213 
Trochanter, 273 



Trochophore, 202, 235, 255 
Troglodytidae, 431 
Trophoblast, 448, 449 
Tube-feet, 215 
Tubifex, 239 
Tunicates, 313 
Turbellaria, 194, 195 
Turdidae, 431 
Turkey, 417 
Turtles, 393 

Tympanic membrane, 355 
Typhlosole, 231 

Ungulata, 451, 453 

Unit characters, 492 

Unto, 240, 259 

Univalent chromosomes, 33, 34, 35 

Unsegmented worms, 148, 191 

Upupa, 403 

Urea, 72, 345 

Ureter, 345, 448 

Urethra, 345, 448 

Uric acid, 72 

Urinary bladder, 345, 448 

Uterus, 193, 346, 448 

Vagus (nerve), 353 

Variability, 103, 483, 493 

Varieties, no 

Vas deferens, 253, 287, 345 

Veins, 72 

Veliger, 255 

Venomous snakes, 390 

Ventriculus (stomach), 281 

Vermes, 204 

Vermiform appendix (caecum), 446 

Vertebrae, 330, 331 

Vertebral column, 329; divisions of, 330 

Vertebrates, 146, 313 

Villi, 336, 449 

Visceral arches, 337 

Viviparous, 346 

Volvox, 154, 159, 162 

Vorticella, 158, 159, 162 

Vultures, 420 

Walking-stick insect, 123, 126, 298 
Walrus, 454 
Warblers, 421 
Wasps, 307 



558 



INDEX 



Water-boatman, 300 

Water- vascular system, 214, 217 

Weasel, 455 

Web (of spiders), 306; birds, 402 

Weevils, 305 

Whales, 453 

Whelks, 261 

Whippoorwill, 430 

White ants, 299 

Wings — insects, 28o;birds,40i ;bats,458 

Wolves, 455 

Wood-lice, 300 



Wood-peckers, 425, 427 
Worms, 148, 191, 223 
Wrens, 421 

Xiphosura, 307 

Yolk, 37; influence on cleavage, 38 

Zebra, 455 
Zoea, 288 

Zoology — scope, 2; history of, 6 and 
Ch. XXVIII 



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